Neji was no idiot.
He knew Sasuke had an in that he didn't with Naruto. He wasn't just going to wait around and continually try to pressure Gaara either. Even though he was self-centered by nature, Neji knew there was something developmentally wrong with Gaara. He knew that if he continued to push too hard, the guy would shut down.
Neji wasn't so cold-hearted as to want to hurt him. He wasn't his uncle. He just wanted to get what he needed. And at that moment, he felt like it was a connection with Naruto.
So he was pushing on, hoping to come off on a better foot with Naruto, and possibly extend an invitation to coffee.
He rang the bell of the apartment for the second time since the man moved in, and waited patiently.
"Who? Is it Daddy," that familiar rasp came from the door as it opened. There were three immediate shocks he experienced as soon as the door opened.
First and foremost was his old paramour, Rock Lee, standing behind the door, not looking anything like he used to. Gone was the scrawny twink from all those years ago. Before him stood a man, one that looked like it could bend him in half using only his thumb and pointer finger.
Second was the child on his hip, who looked so shockingly familiar that Neji had to blink away memories of his childhood. The only difference between this child and his cousin were their eyes; with the young girl's being blue and holding a hint of wildness that was so obviously Naruto.
The third was the small Naruto replica at Lee's side, tugging on his sleeve, "Lee-sensei... he looks like what mommy used to look like."
Neji was stunned, trying to regain some sort of footing to understand what parallel universe he had been cast into. Deep in his mind, underneath the shock, Neji was connecting the dots. The look of recognition and corresponding avoidance on Naruto's part. The fact that Naruto never seemed to let his kids' be seen by or introduced to him.
The little blonde boy stared at him for a long moment, tears gathering in his eyes. He looked away from Neji, covering his face with Lee's leg. Lee put a large hand on the back of his head. Neji could hear his little muffled sobs.
"Okay," Lee practically sighed, "Hyuuga-san, I am very sorry, but I cannot speak with you right now. If you are looking for Naruto-san, I will make sure he comes to speak with you when he returns home."
"Yes... that's... yes," Neji said, not bothering to be stung that Lee was back to using polite speech with him. He turned and walked down the hall, legs feeling like gelly, mind adrift.
y
There was a hard knock at the door that Neji felt he had been waiting eons for, though it was only a few hours. Still, he jumped when he heard it.
Neji, never afraid of anything, felt his heart pounding as he went to unlock and open his door. Naruto's angry eyes were there, concentrated right at him. He was pushed past, and he closed his door in trance-like obedience.
"I think you woulda gotten the hint by now, ya know," Naruto growled, "I don't wanna see you, I won't make plans with you, etcetera, etcetera."
"You're her husband," Neji said weakly, "Those are my cousins."
"You lost all right to call them your family when you sent money instead of coming to be by her side," Naruto snarled, "If she didn't beg me to allow you or that crazy ass old man into their lives, I would have been in the wind already."
"What did you expect me to do? She refused to accept my help paying for treatments, for anything," Neji felt torn, "She left our family for you!"
Naruto laughed. It was a twisted and distorted thing, angry and feral like the growl of a wolf, "You people are so self-centered that only you can practically disown a member of your own family and make it seem like it was her choice. Hinata wanted to live freely with the time she had. She wanted to make a family of her own and feel the happiness she was missing in that place.
You ever consider that even after all that fucked up shit you put her through, she still thought of you as her brother? She begged me to keep trying to contact you, even as she was delirious with pain."
"I couldn't watch her die," Neji shook his head, "I wouldn't put myself through that."
"Of course not! It was always about you! Not about the dying wish of someone who loved you more than her own self! Fuck," Naruto shouted, looking as though he would punch a hole in Neji's wall, "You would have known about her children if you'd even had the decency to say goodbye at her funeral! To give even one phone call, one fucking second of your time when they needed it!"
Neji didn't say anything. He couldn't. Naruto continued on, "I already let that old man see them during limited visits. If you want to be a part of their lives, then you work that out with him. But if not, I don't wanna see your face. Don't even think about breathing in my fucking direction, Hyuuga. Or you'll regret it."
Naruto opens his front door and slams it shut, leaving Neji more confused and broken than that afternoon.
