Hinata was silent as Hanabi spread salve on her wound. Hinata taught her sister everything she knew of first aid, and like everything she did, Hanabi did it to her best ability.
"I still don't see how he snuck up on you," the younger Hyuuga mused as she bandaged the shallow cut. "Didn't you see him?"
"I wasn't paying attention as I should have been," Hinata answered, turning her head to stare out the window.
"A ninja never lets her guard down until all enemies are accounted for and dealt with," Hanabi recited.
Hinata knew the rule, had known it before her sister was born, but she didn't point out that fact. Her sister wasn't old enough to know that what you were taught seldom had anything to do with what happened on the battlefield. The kunoichi sighed and stretched her legs. The walk back to the village through the snow was tiring. All she wanted to do now was curl into her covers and fall asleep.
"Hinata." Her name was the only warning she had before her father opened the door. Lying as she was, without a shirt or any bindings made her face flame. Thankfully she was lying on her stomach. As long as she didn't move she had nothing to worry about.
Hiashi looked away, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Get dressed, Hinata. You have five minutes." Without another word he closed the door.
The kunoichi looked to her sister, but the girl shook her head. "I don't know. Chichue's been acting strange all day."
"Strange?" Hinata pulled on a shirt, tucking the loose material into her pants before pulling on a yukata.
Hanabi began collecting her medical supplies. "Something's wrong, but when I asked him he sent me away."
He knows. he knows heknowsheknows. Hinata forced herself to calm down. There was no way he could know, nothing she said or did gave her away. She would have to find a way to explain her pregnancy, but that could wait until after she worked up the nerve to speak to Neji.
Her father was waiting for her when she opened the door. "Chichue, what-"
"Follow me."
Hinata followed her father as they walked through the halls of the Hyuuga compound. The only time she could remember him acting this way was when he came to take her to her mother before she died.
Her father stopped abruptly, and only a sharp pivot on her foot kept Hinata from running into his back. She looked around, and froze. They were standing before the council chamber. She could count on one hand the number of times she'd been here, and each time no good had come of it.
"Chi-Chichue, what's going on?"
He said nothing, only looked down at her. For a moment she thought he was going to say something to her. Instead, his expression became blank, and he opened the door. Later on, when she had time to think about it, Hinata would recognize the look in her father's eyes.
It was pity.
Neji waited calmly before the council, expression carefully blank as he studied all of them. It was the second time in his life that he was standing before them. The first was after the pre-examination to the third part of the chuunin exam. He'd been there for the council to oversee his punishment for what he'd done to Hinata.
It took two days before his hands stopped shaking.
"You have surpassed our expectations, Neji," Hyuuga Himori said. "Your control over the byakugan, your expertise with the juuken, all speak of your talents. Your father would be very proud."
Neji bowed. "Thank you, Himori-san," he said stiffly, willing his hands to unclench.
"It is truly a shame Hinata inherited none of her father's talent." That came from Kaiya. "Perhaps we made a mistake in allowing Hiashi to marry outside the clan."
"It couldn't be helped," Hyuuga Hatori, the youngest member of the council added. "Hiashi refused any of our choices."
"And we've seen what it's done to our house," Himori finished, his voice grim.
A strange kind of anticipation began to settle in Neji's stomach. It was the same feeling he had when he was on a mission and knew an attack was coming. "Elders, if you wish to discuss these matters privately-"
"You'll stay where you are."
Nine pairs of white eyes settled on Neji at that moment. People not of the Hyuuga clan often talked about how difficult it was to stand under that pupil-less stare without wilting. No one could imagine having the weight of the council focused on them. He could feel them, searching his posture, his eyes, for any sign of weakness. Neji forced himself not to move. If they wanted weakness, they would have to look elsewhere.
"He has his father's fire, Himori." Kaiya was watching him thoughtfully now.
The other council members nodded in assent. Before he could ask what they wanted of him he heard the shoji behind him open. A small gasp was all it took.
Hinata.
Fear, the kind that dried the mouth and turned the muscles to jelly went through him. There was only one reason the two of them would be called before the council.
Hyuuga Himori looked at his two grandchildren. Neji was standing tall, unwavering before what he must have known could very easily be certain death. Himori frowned. The boy would have been a fine heir, if only he belonged to the main family. Hinata was standing, and that was through only a supreme amount of effort. Still, it was an improvement. A year ago she would have fainted at such a meeting. Perhaps there was enough Hyuuga blood in her to overcome the weakness she inherited from her mother.
"Ai."
The woman, older than even he was, activated her byakugan. A moment later she nodded solemnly. "Aburame was correct, Himori."
Hinata's eyes slid to Neji before fearfully settling on her great aunt. The boy only looked confused. So, he doesn't know yet.
"Elders, why have you called us here?" Neji asked, his voice steady and calm.
The boy thinks to play with us, does he? Himori's jaw tightened. "The patience of this council is very thin, Hyuuga Neji. Tread on it at your own peril."
That took some of the defiance out of him. His eyes slid to his cousin, then back to them. So he was more worried about what the would do to her, than what they planned for him.
Interesting.
"We've known of your affair from the beginning." Hyuuga Hatori's voice was neutral, but it might as well have been a sledgehammer for the two it was directed at. "We allowed you to…continue… because we felt that some good might come from such behavior."
"Our first instinct was to call both of you before us for punishment," Fujita continued. "Such behavior should not go unpunished. Both of you have risked not only your own honor, but that of our entire clan."
"The Hyuuga's are old, but not invincible," Ai's voice was barely above a whisper, a side affect from nearly having her throat slit in her youth. "Do you have any idea of the scandal you would bring down upon us if it were known you were sleeping with each other?"
"Not that much sleeping was involved, from what we understand," Haru added.
Himori watched as Neji stiffened bit by bit, becoming more rigid as each person spoke, his eyes focused straight ahead. Hinata was trembling, a leaf in a high wind. She would be the easiest of them to break.
"Some behavior can be attributed to the stupidity of youth," Kaiya said, sounding bored as usual. "Others cannot be explained away so easily."
"I would have expected the woman who is the heir to our family to understand the importance of upholding our family name, and hold herself to a higher standard." Hinata wilted visibly at the direct attack. Himori's eyes flicked to Hiashi. The man looked murderous. "Instead, she has been sneaking off, abandoning her studies, to sleep with her cousin."
"A young man who should have known better, even if his cousin did not." Contempt colored Hyuuga Rumiko's words. "Who should have lead her to the right path, instead of leading her further into debauchery."
"Ne-Neji-nisan never-"
"Silence."
Hinata's mouth closed with an audible click.
Himori sighed. "For two ninja, you are unbelievably easy to manipulate." Two sets of confused eyes swept over the council. "As was said, we knew when this affair first started. Had we wanted it to stop, we would have stopped you." He waited for the words to sink in. "However, it opened a unique opportunity, one that we were loathe to let pass. And our waiting has yielded the desired result."
Hinata's hands flew to her stomach, her mouth opening slightly.
"An heir to the Hyuuga with Neji's strength would be an asset beyond price."
Neji was frozen. Himori's words echoed through his mind. He couldn't mean… he…
The boy turned to his cousin. Her eyes were focused on the floor, her hands folded protectively over her stomach. "Hinata?" She flinched at his quiet question.
"While you may be unprepared to deal with this consequence, we are not," Himori continued. "Hinata will marry inside the month, once we are decided on a suitable groom. Your child will be declared the heir upon its birth."
The council kept talking after that, but Neji wasn't listening. After they disbanded Ai, Kaiya, and Rumiko lead Hinata off, while a firm hand lead him in the opposite direction. It wasn't until the cold air hit his face that he realized he was sweating, a light sheen of moisture covering his face.
"Come, Neji." Hiashi walked down the hall without a backwards glance.
Neji followed his uncle, eyes unseeing. Self-consciousness was something the young ninja experienced only rarely, usually when his seal was visible. His hand ghosted up to the wrappings that hid the seal from view when he wasn't wearing his headband. They were still in place.
The cold wood burned his feet, but the rest of him felt too warm. He looked out of the corners of his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hinata. It was snowing again, odd for a country that expected maybe one snow storm throughout the year. Large flakes drifted down on the slight breeze, so slowly they seemed to be frozen in the night air. Why didn't she tell me? He couldn't understand it. She'd known before Himori announced it, her reaction was not one of complete shock. So why would she keep something that important from him? Neji's mind was reeling.
The blow, when it came, was almost surprising.
Neji's knees buckled as the air was forced out of his lungs. His vision blurred, but before he could hit the floor something grabbed him by the collar.
Hinata kept her head down as she was poked and prodded by her three aunts. They'd lead her to a room in the older section of the compound, and stripped her almost before they plugged in the small heater. They all talked over her head, asking questions among themselves when they could have gotten the right answer out of her.
Suddenly it was all too much
"Get away from me!"
Hinata pushed away from her aunts and stood there, trembling. The three women were watching her with…amusement? She looked down at herself. She was standing naked, glaring at three of her aunts. Three full grown members of the family council. No wonder they found her funny.
Aunt Ai closed in first, lifting her face so she could look into Hinata's eyes. "So a tiger hides beneath all that kitten fur, does it?"
The girl pulled away, shame turning her cheeks scarlet.
Kaiya dipped her head, trying to make eye contact with her niece. "No need to be embarrassed now, Hianta-chan. We were enjoying your little display of temper."
Her head flew up, her glare returning ten-fold. Little display?
Rumiko smiled, though nothing of humor tinted her eyes. "Himori seemed so sure the child had no fire."
"It won't be the first time he's been wrong," Ai finished.
All three of her aunts smiled at her then, smiles that touched their eyes. Hinata looked between them, confused.
"Here, child," Kaiya held up Hinata's yukata.
She practically snatched the garment out of her aunt's grasp, belting it tightly before turning a wary eye on the three women in front of her.
"Sit." Rumiko gestured to a small table Hinata hadn't noticed. Ai was already there, pouring tea into four cups.
They sat, staring at Hinata until she settled on one of the chairs. She picked up her cup and held it.
"Neji's rather handsome, isn't he?" Ai sipped her tea.
Hinata's hands tightened on her cup.
"Much more handsome than my first husband." Rumiko smiled at her niece.
"If I was fifty years younger, you might have competition."
The young woman sipped her tea, unsure of what to say. They were expecting something out of her, something she wasn't certain she knew how to give.
"I always wondered if that young man would be as exceptional in the bedroom as he was on his missions," Kaiya said dreamily.
Hinata gasped as her tea went down the wrong way. Three sets of hands patted her on her back, muttering soothingly as she tried to catch her breath. I'm dreaming, she thought to herself. I must be.
Thank you for reading! Special hot apple pie and icecream thanks goes out to kokonutsu, Elisa Ardell, Ah-choo, Lady of Genesis, and sorviball for their reviews!
See something you like? Hate? A place where I blatantly screwed up? Leave a review and let me know! All reviews are placed on a shrine next to my computer for moral support. Flames will be eaten with soy sauce and rum :)
Now, some definitions
Shoji: japanese sliding door, usually made of rice paper panels. can be sheathed in glass to keep out the cold.
