"Hinata. You don't understand," Neji says, trying to reason with her.
"No, Neji-nii-san…I u-understand…I love y-you and you d-don't love me back. I r-respect that. Cousins s-shouldn't love each other. It isn't r-right? That's i-incest and it's n-not right…father w-would immediately d-disown me upon k-knowledge of this. Please, PLEASE, Neji-nii-san. Don't tell f-father about t-this. I don't c-care if you h-hate me or a-avoid me for the r-rest of my l-life, just…don't tell f-father," Hinata says quietly and goes back into the tent.
"HINATA! Please, hear me out!" Neji desperately says as he stands up to follow her.
Hinata stops, turns around and holds up her hand to stop Neji from advancing any more. "Forget it, Neji-nii-san. I understand. You don't and never will love me. You can just drop it." With that, Hinata walks into the tent to pack everything up.
'Hinata...' Neji looks down in defeat. He clenches his fists. "Damn," he mutters quietly as he kicks dirt in the fire to smother it.
The rest of their trip to Suna is rather uneventful. Neither is speaking to the other, in fear that they will break the thin thread of the relationship they have now. Sadly, neither noticed that their relationship isn't a thin thread; it's actually a thick chain. They don't realize that no matter what the other says, they won't hate them. They reach the village by the next morning and are ushered in to have a short chat with the Kazekage.
Even with the door closed and the two Hyuuga waiting patiently outside, Gaara can feel the tension. 'Don't tell me that stupid cadet branch member still has a grudge against the main branch.' He sighs before loudly saying, "Come in." The door opens and the two Hyuuga cousins walk into the room, Neji closing the door behind him. "So…Tsunade-san sent you here to help us with the restoration of our West side. That sandstorm hit us hard. Of course if you do not wish to start today, you will be allowed the rest of the day off."
The two Hyuuga cousins stand in front of Gaara, not saying anything. 'They're probably not even paying attention to me.' Gaara sighs. "As I was saying, you will have the rest of the day off if you wish. After that, we went you to help the medic nins if they find any survivors." Gaara glances at the two Hyuuga ninja. "And it would be helpful if Neji helps with the rebuilding in the areas that were already dug out. Oh, and also…I'm gay."
Hinata and Neji both stare at Gaara in shock. "W-what?" Hinata asks quietly.
Gaara sighs. "You two weren't listening to me." The two Hyuuga cousins blush in embarrassment. "I'm not gay and is there something I should know about? Like…oh, I don't know…the reason why you two are so out of it?"
Hinata bites her lip. 'Neji-kun hates me.'
Neji averts his eyes. 'Hinata-sama thinks I don't love her.'
Gaara visibly twitches at the silence. He sighs and says, "Well, just from feeling this tension. I would believe it is something…sexual." Both Hinata and Neji stare at Gaara, a deep blush across both their faces. "It is…isn't it?" Hinata immediately looks away and Neji looks at his feet. That was answer enough. Gaara sighs and stands up. "Neji…Hinata," he waits for both look at him. When they don't, his eye twitches but he continues. He takes a deep breath and shouts, "YOU BOTH FUCKING LOVE EACH OTHER! IT'S OBVIOUS SO JUST STOP THIS GODDAMN SILENT TREATMENT AND GET TOGETHER!"
The two Suna ANBU standing outside the door flinch and look at each other with fear in their eyes. Gaara never shouts. They both cautiously look at the door. Something was going on in there. Something they didn't want to be a part of.
Hinata's eyes widen and she looks at Neji who was looking away, a deep blush covering his face. "You…l-love me, Neji-kun? Since when?"
Neji glances at her. He shrugs. "I don't really know. But…I lied to Hiashi-sama. I didn't…I didn't want him to separate us. Even if you never looked at me as more than a cousin, I would still be happy." He shuffles on his feet, obviously not used to confessing things.
Gaara sighs and sits back down. "I'm guessing you two are planning on taking today off?" He asks with a smirk. Hinata looks at him in confusion while Neji's blush darkens.
"K-Kazekage-sama!" Neji shouts, completely embarrassed. "We're not like…that…" He bites his lip and looks away.
A deep blush covers Hinata's face. "W-w-what? G-Gaara-sama!"
Gaara smiles innocently. "What's wrong? It's perfectly normal that two people in their teens to want to—"
"GAARA!" Neji shouts, glaring at him.
Gaara looks at Neji and rests his elbows on his desk and rests his head on his hands. "You know, when you blush that much, your glare is extremely diminished." Gaara sighs when Neji glares at him more and Hinata look as though she's about to faint. He waves his hand, dismissing them.
The two immediately walk out of the room, wanting to get away from Gaara's taunting as quickly as possible. Once they're settled in a hotel, Neji quietly says, "Geez, he didn't have to go that far." Hinata blushes and looks away nodding. Neji looks at her. "Hinata-sama, I…"
"Save it, Neji-kun," Hinata says, putting up her hand to stop his talking. Neji eyes widen slightly at the honorific she used with his name. "I…I j-jumped to c-conclusions when you w-were talking to f-father. I sh-should've j-just a-asked you a-about your f-f-feelings. I-I'm sorry if I h-hurt you by s-saying that y-you hate m-me."
Neji gulps and looks her in the eye. "Hinata-sama…I could never hate you. I love you more than anything else in this world." Neji leans in cautiously. "Believe me when I say this: I love you, Hinata-sama." He closes the gap between his and Hinata's lips.
Hinata and Neji took that day to walk around the village and survey the damage. The next few days afterwards, they helped dig and rebuild. After they did all they could, they packed up their things and left Suna, saying goodbye to all their friends beforehand. It took only two days to get back to Konoha.
Neji sighs as he walks through the main gates of Konoha. 'That mission lasted a couple of weeks. Not only that, but Gaara kept pestering us about 'safe sex'. GOD! Sometimes I just wish he never tried to take interest in Naruto's friends' lives.' Neji adjusts his backpack and yawns. "You can go back home, Hinata-sama. I'll turn in the mission report," he says, walking off towards the Hokage Tower.
Hinata hesitates before shaking her head. "I'll go with you." Over those couple weeks in Suna, Hinata's stutter had disappeared. Neji raises an eyebrow at her as she jogs to catch up with him. "I…I want to spend more time with you, Neji-kun."
Neji blushes slightly and turns to face the Hokage Tower. "Oh…I see." Hinata looks down sadly. She looks back up at him to see the small smile etching at the sides of his mouth. She smiles while looking back down at her feet.
The two Hyuuga make it to and in the Hokage office in 30 minutes. Neji gives Tsunade his report and they turn to leave just when the door slams open. "NEJI, HAVE YOU AND THE YOUTHFUL HINATA-CHAN BECOME ONE?" shouts the familiar voice of Neji's green-clad teammate.
Neji feels the blush appearing on his cheeks. "Dammit, Lee, must you say something like that?" Hinata looks at Neji in confusion but once seeing his blush makes her go red as a tomato, realizing what Lee had meant.
Tenten shakes her head as she walks in. "Sorry, Neji. I couldn't stop him. But, are you two…a couple?" Neji looks at Hinata out of the side of his eye and she glances up at him. He blushes and looks away. They both shrug.
Tsunade sighs and asks, "What exactly happened in Suna?" Neji opens his mouth, but Tsunade cuts him off by saying, "That's not in the mission report." Neji closes his mouth.
"Well…Gaara-san said some things and we ended up…confessing to one another," Hinata says, twiddling her thumbs while looking down. All the people in the room were too stunned that she hadn't stuttered to hear the footsteps coming from down the hall. "So now…Neji-kun and I are…dating."
Suddenly, they hear a scroll hit the floor. They all look up to see Hiashi standing in the doorway, eyes wide. After two minutes of silent staring, Hiashi's eye starts twitching and he shouts, "NEJI!"
"Oh, shi—!"
And it's done! Tell me how you think of the ending! ^-^