Chapter four - Fun day, Cursed day, Blessed day.

It's been about six months since they started training with Kizashi, and being the ever caring person that he is, he insisted on having a whole day from every week off, namely Friday. No training. Instead they did group activities: picnics, parks, barbecues, going to the lake for a dip, laying around all day reading, and other stuff.

Neji couldn't honestly say that he didn't like it, it's just that he preferred training. But he complied with it because he could feel the effect this has on him. He still remembers the first time Kizashi brought this up.

Flashback

They had just finished training and were having dinner when Kizashi spoke up, "Neji, I would like for you to come here every Friday morning, instead of meeting at the training grounds."

"May I know why, Kizashi-san?"

"Well, from now on, every Friday is going to be our day off."

Seeing Neji about to protest, he continued, "Neji? Do you know what will happen to you if you keep training non-stop? Your body will get exhausted. You won't feel it now, and you won't feel it for a long time, but trust me, you shouldn't push your body. That's why we are going to have one full day of relaxation every week. Okay?"

Neji still didn't look convinced, but he nodded his head nonetheless. But Kizashi wanted to drive home a point so he said, "Even if you think you could handle it, son, sometimes others can't." And the gestured to the chair beside Neji.

When Neji looked at the chair, he found Sakura curled up in a ball and sleeping, on her side, while sucking her thumb. Neji's eyes softened at seeing her, and nodded his head, convinced this time.

"Very good, then. But the only mystery now, is how she does that. I know her frame is small, but to curl up on a chair? Sheesh! What am I going to do with this girl?" He said playfully.

End of flashback

Right now, they were making their way to the park. It was still too cold for Mebuki's liking to go swim in the lake. They picked a bench and sat down.

Things were going normally until Mebuki excused herself and her daughter to go wash their hands. Kizashi bent to Neji's level and said in a low voice, so Sakura couldn't over hear them, "You know Neji, Sakura's birthday is five days from today, we were thinking about throwing her a party after you two come back from training, do you think you could stall her as much as you can for us?"

"Hai."

Neji knew for a fact that they don't need stalling. This was Kizashi's way of telling Neji about Sakura's birthday without hurting his 'Hyuuga pride'.

That thought made Neji smile.

...

It was a hard day for Hyuuga Hiashi. His wife was in her last trimester, and she was really grumpy. Her mood swings even scared little Hinata. And he had no choice but to get her, and go out of the compound.

They went for a stroll around the village, his daughter holding his hand.

Hiashi had a lot on his plate lately; The elders were getting grumpier than his wife with their demands. He had to keep an eye on their rival clan, the Uchiha. But most of all he was worried about his nephew. Neji has been acting strange lately. Going out at the crack of dawn, and coming back late at night. Well, not that late, but he was still a boy, and he shouldn't be out without anybody knowing where he is! Whenever asked he would say 'training'.

He was happy that his nephew took his training seriously, but what had him really worried was that the boy never comes back to the compound to eat! And he doesn't look ill either. It's like someone was taking care of the boy. But who ..?

He was cut off from his thinking when Hinata tugged on his hand. Looking down at her to give her his full attention, she said, "Outo-san, i-isn't th-that N-Neji-ni-s-san?"

Looking at the direction she was pointing, he saw his nephew sitting with a group of strangers, probably civilians. Laughing and having fun. He got pissed!

Without even thinking about it, he stormed up to the group of four, intended on Juukening them to oblivion and beyond for taking advantage of his nephew.

He came up behind the red headed man and gripped him by the shoulder, hard.

Kizashi noticed Neji's face go pale when he saw the man who was gripping his shoulder, so he had a good idea who this man was.

Smiling cheekily, he turned to the head of the Hyuuga clan and said, "Why, Hiashi! I didn't know that you were a sentimental man! But I assure you I don't like that kind of contact with other males, but I think that my daughter here, Sakura," and he gestured towards said daughter, "would love to give you a hug!"

"Wow, Neji-kun! He looks like an older you!" Exclaimed Sakura while standing on her seat to get a better view over her fathers head.

It took a moment for Hizashi to realize who this man was. He blinked in surprise, then asked, "Kizashi?"

It was actually comical to Neji to see his uncles reaction. He wanted to laugh out loud.

"In the flesh!" Said Kizashi while grinning.

Hiashis shoulders sagged in relief. "And here I thought you were some civilians trying to take advantage of my nephew." He said this with his eyes narrowed to slits from irritation.

"Haha, not us!"

Hiashi turned to look at Neji, who had slipped on his stoic facade again.

It was hard for Sakura to see it. He stopped doing it around her a long time ago, and it isn't this hardened in front of her parents.

"Neji." Spoke Hiashi quietly. "I would have appreciated it if you had told me about where you have been wandering about these last six weeks. I thought you were training."

Before Neji could answer, Kizashi cut in, "Actually, that's my fault. I didn't tell him that he was supposed to tell you. And he is training, but you know that Friday was our teams resting day, I don't want to break a good old tradition."

"Ah, that's right."

"And who is this?" Kizashi asked gesturing to Hinata.

Hiashi tugged her gently to stand in front of Kizashi, and gave her a meaningful look. She bowed politely and said, "I'm Hyuuga Hinata. It's a p-pleasure to meet you." Her father gave her a nod for her not stuttering much.

"Ah. What a fine young lady! The pleasure is all mine to meet the Hyuuga heiress."

"Sakura, why don't you, Neji and Hinata go play that game you were just talking about?"

Sakura knew that that was her fathers way of getting rid of them so they could have some 'grown up' talk. She didn't mind making friends with new people, but she had to let her father know that she knows what he's doing. So she looked at him with her eyes narrowed to slits, and he laughed sheepishly at he. Then she said, "Hai, Tou-san." And proceeded to drag Neji and Hinata away.

Hiashi sat in front of the couple, "Well, Kizashi. What is it that you want to speak to me about?"

Kizashi's expression turned from playful to serious. He braced his arms on the table, "Hiashi."

The seriousness of his voice caught Hiashi off guard. He was used to Kizashi being playful and a prankster, and although he hadn't seen him since the death of his brother, he didn't think that he would change that much.

"You should know better than to neglect Neji. Hiashi, I've been trying to get the boy to loosen up a bit. He had so much haterd for his clan that it was suffocating him. He really believes that your clan killed his father. I know the truth, Hiashi. Hizashi told me before he went on that mission. It's not my place to tell him about what really happened, but I really think that you should. It will have him seeing his father as the hero he really was, instead of the victim that he isn't. If you don't set things straight with him now, Hiashi, he is going to despise the clan. Do it while you still can. You don't know what he'll do in the future if this hatred continues."

Hiashi stared. He actually hadn't thought about this. How could he be so blind? 360 degree sight my ass! He can't even see what his nephew is going through!

He sighed. But before he could say anything, Mebuki cut him off, and spoke for the first time since he came, "There is another thing."

"Mebuki." Kizashi warned.

She shot him a glare that would freeze hell over.

"Let her talk Kizashi. After all, a woman sees in children what most men can't."

Her glare turned to a smug look. Then she soberd up and faced Hiashi.

"Don't seal him."

"Excuse me?"

"He might not show it, but I know for a fact that he's afraid of that cursed mark."

When Hiashi didn't say anything, she continued, "Think about it Hiashi. If you seal him he will definitely loose all trust in his clan, and it's not going to matter how many talks you have with him, he's not going to stop hating his clan just because of that mark."

"You know that it's not that simple."

"Yes, it is."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow at her in the I'm-a-Hyuuga-so-I'm-too-good-to-talk language. So she elaborated, "I know that you can't tell them what we just told you now. But there are other reasons as to not seal Neji-chan."

Ignoring the nickname he asked, "And what are those, Mebuki?"

"Well, we know that you were never okay with having a daughter as heiress. The job needs a lot of training. Your daughter is too fragile for the job. We both know it and don't deny it. It's actually not that small of a secret around the village. And I'mpositive that you don't want to push your daughter to the extent that you were pushed to as a kid. And your second child is a girl too. So there isn't much difference between her and your first daughter."

"Were are you going with this?" He asked, aggravated at the fact that this woman could read him like an open book when even his wife sometimes has difficulty doing it.

"You could tell the elders that you think that the girls will be too fragile to take up the position as head of the clan, so you want to keep Neji-chan unsealed, and train him in case they really weren't able to take up the position. That way you can keep both of your daughters and Neji-chan unsealed, and you keep your nephew close to you."

Hiashi smirked. This woman has really been thinking hard about this. She is even bribing him with prospect of having his second daughter unsealed. But there is one problem ...

"That's a really good reasoning. But there is only one problem with this. Although this will probably satisfy the elders for some years, what do you think will happen if Neji doesn't meet the elders expectations? Then what? And even when one of them becomes clan head, the other two will be sealed. I don't think that you thought this through Mebuki."

As much as Hiashi hoped that these three wouldn't get sealed, he can't live in a fairytale and expect everything to go that way because he just wants it to. But he had hope when he saw the look of confidence on Mebuki's face.

"Oh, don't you worry. Unlike somebody I know," insert glare at Kizashi, "I never do a half assed job. Neji will meet their expectations, Kizashi told me about Neji-chan's training, and from what I got, he is doing very well."

They both turned to Kizashi, "It's true Hiashi. Neji is already able to see the Tenketsu is even Sakura's chakra network. And I'll have you know that her chakra network isn't fully developed yet. That's a feat not many Hyuuga can do. Not even you and your brother were able to do that at his age, Heck, you guys couldn't do it until you became Genin!"

Hiashi was pulled out of his shocked state when Mebuki smacked Kizashi at the back of his head, "No swearing!"

"But I didn't really mean to, sugar!" Replied Kizashi with a cheeky grin while rubbing his abused head.

She huffed and muttered something about 'stupid men and their sweet-talking themselves out of trouble.' Turning to Hiashi, who was trying, and failing miserably, to hide his amusement, she said, "So we agree that Neji-chan is a prodigy, so he will more likely than not be the head of the clan. And we all know that Hinata won't be sealed because she is the original heiress, and by the time anybody gets a word about your second daughter, Neji would become head and deny them their request. You have to think about this well Hiashi, you don't want Neji to hate his cousins, it's better if he views them as sisters rather than enemies." She said seriously.

"Damn! You have really out done yourself, honey!"

Mebuki knocked her fist against her husbands head again, "What have I told you about swearing!"

Hizashi could do nothing but shake his head in exasperation.

...

"So! Lets play tag! Who's it?" Asked an oblivious Sakura after they stopped a far distance from the grownups.

"Humph. I'm not playing with her." Said Neji arrogantly.

"Neji-ni-san.." Said Hinata softly.

'What's his problem? We were fine just now!'

'Don't know Inner, but I intend to find out!'

Putting her hands on her hips, she asked sassily, "And why not?"

"Because she's his daughter. If it wasn't for her, my dad-" He didn't get to finish his sentence since Sakura smacked him upside the head when she saw the tears begin to gather in Hinata's eyes.

'You go Outer!' Cheered Inner.

"You know better than to blame her! She didn't do anything!"

"I don't care! I don't want to play with her! Let's go!" And he grabbed Sakura's hand and tried to drag her away, but Sakura was nothing if not stubborn, she dug her heals in the ground to stop him, "Neji! That's rude! I'm telling Okaa-san!"

This had Neji red from anger. "Fine! You want to play with her? Go! She stole my dad and now she's stealing you, too! I should have expected that!"

By now Neji was huffing for air and shaking from anger. He expected Sakura to start yelling at him and then turn around and leave him. So he kept his head down with tears at the corners of his eyes ready to spill when she started yelling.

But she never did. Instead he heard soft footsteps till he saw Sakura's shoes. He looked up then to see her smiling softly, "So, all of this is because your jealous and afraid to loose me?" She asked.

Being the honest kid that he was, he nodded. He stopped all movement when he saw the mischievous look on her face. The next thing he knew was that Sakura was pinching his cheeks and saying ridiculous stuff, like, "So cute, Neji-chan!"

"Sakuwa, wet gow!"

"So adorable, aren't you Neji-chan!?"

"Sakuwa! I meeewn ieet!"

"But you're so-" She stopped when she heard some giggling to her left. It was Hinata. She was giggling behind her fisted hand. Sakura let go of Neji's cheeks, and grabbed his arm to drag him to his cousin.

"Now, Neji-kun. Say your sorry!"

Neji turned his face in defiance. While Hinata stuttered, "H-he d-doesn't h-have to, S-sakura-san."

Sakura looked at her like she grew another head. "Of course he has to! He was being unnecessarily rude!" Turning to Neji she spoke in a voice that brooked no room for arguments, "Nejiiiii." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "NOW!" She thundered.

Sighing, and resigning to his fate, he looked Hinata in the eye and said, "I apologize, Hinata-sama."

Hinata looked down in sadness. She had told him hundreds of times not to call her that!

"What's wrong Hinata?"

She jumped up at Sakura's voice to have a face full of emerald green. Sakura was too close. "N-nothing, S-sakura-san!" She squeaked.

"You sure are the shy type." Commented Sakura.

"You're one to talk." Rebuked Neji.

"Oh, really, now? Just wait! I'll make her as confident as I became after we met! Just wait! Honestly, it's your fault from the beginning! If you hadn't left her alone she would have grown a backbone because you would be her brother, but nooooo! ..."

Neji and Hinata stood to the side watching the pinkette rant. Hinata trying to smother her giggles to no avail, and Neji shaking his head and sighing next to her.

"And YOU!" She pointed a finger at Hinata, "Tell us what's annoying you, and if it's Neji I'll beat him to a bloody pulp!"

'Cha! Finally you're starting to be more like me!'

'Oh, no! I don't want to become like you!' She shuddered.

Hinata looked at her and said, "I-it's nothing, r-really. I just told N-neji-nii-san n-not to c-call me Hinata-s-sama, but he won't l-listen."

Looking back and forth between the two of them. Hinata was too shy to look at her cousin, and Neji was too stubborn to give an explanation. So she would take things into her own hands.

"Well I've got a solution!"

Both heads turned to her.

"Whenever Neji-kun calls you 'Hinata-sama', he becomes 'it' in tag!"

Neji scoffed. "Yeah, like that will work. I can simply sit around and let you run around without trying to tag you."

Hinata gave Sakura a small mischievous smile and said, "I-if you d-don't p-play with us, w-we'll put neon-green hair dye in all your shampoo and c-conditioner bottles."

Neji's mouth dropped open in shock and horror at her. She was supposed to be shy! But then again, he does remember what they used to do to the grownups as children, back when he still considered her as a sister. He really missed those days. Maybe what Sakura said was right. If he had stayed close to Hinata, maybe her personality would have been stronger. Well, no time like the present. Sakura is really smart after all.

That last thought vanished to thin air as he looked at Sakura's fallen form on the ground, rolling around, clutching her stomach from laughter. Honestly, were is her decency? And to boot, Hinata has resorted to stuffing her fisted hand into her mouth to try to stop her laughter. Great. Now he has two girls to deal with.

Sakura raised her hand and grabbed Neji's clothing and dragged herself into a standing position. Wiping her eyes and leaning all of her weight on him she said, "Whew! Honestly, Neji-kun! You should've seen your face! Good one Hinata-chan!"

"T-the color suits y-you, n-nii-san."

The girls high-fived each other and Neji groaned, "You can't be serious, Hinata-sama!"

Uh-oh.

Neji could hear the girls' high-pitched-happy-laughter even after they disappeared from next to him. He smirked.

'Let the games begin!'

...

"You know Hiashi, if everything else doesn't go as planned, you could always adopt Neji after establishing a good relationship with- Sakura what are you doing?"

"We're hiding, kaa-san! Shhhhh!"

"Young lady get away from-"

"It's okay Mebuki. I really think that this is my daughters idea. Isn't it Hinata?"

"He he. H-hai, Tou-san." She blushed

Sakura and Hinata were sitting on Hiashi's lap, whispering to each other and trying to subtly get a peak over Hiashi's shoulder without Neji seeing them, but it was really hard for Sakura since her hair color will give her away, especially against the colorlessness of Hiashi's clothes.

Neji came up huffing, and the girls ducked their heads under the table. "Have you seen them?" He asked.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow at his nephew and asked,"By 'them' do you mean these?" He said as he yanked both girls up by their ankles. They were upside down and silent in astonishment. He just gave us away! Neji grinned and poked both of them, " Tag!"

Sakura huffed angrily. "Honestly! Do Hyuuga men have to be like that? Remind me to never trust you Mister!" And she turned her head to the side.

"Oh? And why's that, pinky?"

"First of all, don't call me pinky! And second, we came for your protection and you gave us out! You broke our trust! I will never come to you for help! Even if I'm dying! ..."

'Honestly,' thought Hiashi 'How can a person keep on talking while they're upside down? Both of them are turning blue but she won't stop! And did she really tell(demand) me to wear pink next time so she could blend in?'

"Alright, alright. I apologize, Sakura-san. Happy now?"

"Humph" was here reply as her father came to her rescue, and Hiashi righted his daughter in his arms.

After another hour of the grownups' talking and Neji watching as the girls fell asleep, Hiashi stood up.

"Well then, I guess we should take our leave. Neji, I think you should come back with us. I need to speak with you."

He nodded at Kizashi and Mebuki, and said, "Thank you both for taking care of him."

Neji tensed. He just knew that his uncle was going to give a scathing remark and banish him from coming again.

Sensing his nephews unease, he continued, "I will make sure that he keeps up his activities with you, and I hope you would give me a chance to train them sometime." And he sent a wink at Sakura, who was barely awake, "Humph. So he could kill us? No way are we going there." And she buried her head in her fathers neck, and promptly fell asleep.

Looking on amused, Hiashi continued, "I thank you for opening my eyes to a lot of things I wasn't aware of. I hope we meet soon. Goodnight."

He turned around, carrying his daughter, and Neji trailing behind him.

"Goodnight." Said Mebuki, as she gathered everything and went home with her family, feeling accomplished for the day.

...

"Neji."

"Yes, uncle?"

"Go get changed and come to my study. I want to talk to you."

"Hai."

Doing as he was told Neji changed his clothes while not really focused. His mind was a jumble of thoughts. What could he want? Did he do anything wrong? Was it something Kizashi-san said?

He was now at the door to his uncles study. Knocking twice he entered after hearing his uncles permission.

His uncle was sitting behind his desk as usual. He looked up to look at Neji when he entered.

"I hope you don't always wear your clothes the wrong way, Neji. That would give people the wrong impression about our clan." He said in amusement.

Neji looked down at his sleeping clothes to find that he had his shirt on the wrong way.

After righting his clothes, Neji noticed that his uncle had moved to sit in front of Neji, who was kneeling down on the floor.

"Neji, I know that I am not the best at familial gestures, and I'm not the best person to talk about things that you hold close to your heart. So I'm going to be honest with you and tell you the truth. Neji, I don't want you to grow hating your clan, or even worse, hating me and my daughters because I didn't talk to you sooner..."

And so, they spent the next hour or so talking. Hiashi explained what really happened on that night, and how Neji's father was a hero, and that Hiashi was grateful for his brothers sacrifice. Neji asked a lot of questions, which Hiashi patiently answered and explained to his nephew.

After they established a new relationship, Neji bid his uncle a goodnight, and got up to leave. He had to think everything over, and see were he stood now. But before he could get out of the door his uncle spoke up, "Neji? What are you giving Sakura-san at her birthday in five days?"

"I was thinking about giving her my mothers necklace." Then he added hastily, "If that's okay with you."

"You know what this means, Neji?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then. You have my permission."

...

"Okay, that's enough. Let's head to your house."

It's been five days since the park incident. It was Sakura's birthday today. Neji sighed as he remembered his talk with Kizashi-san the day before.

The man was about to go nuts when he told him about the necklace. Apparently, he knew what it ment.

Courtship.

It meant that Neji was claiming Sakura as his future wife.

But Kizashi had calmed down when Neji told him that he would explain it to Sakura before she accepts it.

The necklace has its pros though. It has a seal in it were both of them should put some of their chakra into it. If one of them is hurt, their chakra signature flares, if they die, it grows at an alarming rate and then pops in the air in front of the other person. And it gives the ability to Shunshin into each others locations, wherever they are, in case they were lost or captured in battle.

But what really makes your mind scream 'How?' Is the fact that even though the female wears the necklace, the male senses these things, too. And the female doesn't really have to be wearing the necklace to feel these things. As long as they put a small amount of their chakra into it every year, it works its magic regardless.

Arriving at the backyard, They heard a 'Happy birthday!'

Sakura's eyes lit up and she ran to them. Apparently Hiashi and Hinata have been invited.

The party went on with games and cake. Then came the gifts.

Kizashi got her a dress saying that she was growing and he still wanted to see her as daddy's little girl and not a tomboy. Which Mebuki slapped him upside the head for. Mebuki got her a pair of gloves with pouches and kunai holsters. Hiashi got her a full stash of kunai, senbon and a new tanto. Hinata got her a big white teddy bear, which Sakura hugged along with Hinata.

Then they all went inside to give them some privacy, Mebuki dragging a struggling Kizashi who had a cloth in his mouth, with Hinata giggling. She really liked Sakura, and hoped for the best for her.

Neji sat down back ways on the bench in the backyard, and Sakura sat next to him, he started to explain everything about the necklace, how his mother always wore it, what it means and what it does.

"So if you accept what I just told you, I would really like to give it to you."

Sakura stared at the necklace with tears in her eyes. It was in the shape of a tear drop, it was dark blue and the claps on the top, that holds it to the chain, is silver, just like the chain itself, which was so delicate she thought she might break it if she did not take care of it.

"Of course I accept!" And she hugged him. Neji brought his hands around her and clasped the necklace around her neck, then he hugged her tightly, and they stayed like that for a while.

Then he backed away, smirked at her and said, "Don't worry, the chain is enforced with chakra, so it won't break."

She smiled at him and held it in the palm of her hand. Neji placed his hand over hers and they both sent their chakra into the necklace. When he removed his hand the necklace was a shiny turquoise color.

...

"Kizashi, stop sulking!"

"Honestly, Kizashi, it's like you don't approve of my nephew."

"It's not like that! It's just that my little baby girl is still too young to get marriage proposals this early!"

"Oh grow up, Kizashi! They are just so kawai! Right, Hinata-chan?" Said girl was sitting in front of Mebuki, while the woman made two pony tails on top of Hinata's head. Hinata nodded her head and giggled as Kizashi sulked.

At least he knows that his daughter is in good hands.

...

A/N: So, Hiashi makes an appearance, sorry that I made him so different from the original, but I always felt like Hiashi was a good person at heart and he really love Neji as a son.

Another thing, don't get used to this. You're just lucky that I'm on my winter break and have a lot of free time :P

Tell me your thoughts and suggestions.

Ta ta!

Zee :)