Chapter 20

Next afternoon.

Neji watched the older man drone on about economic development in the Chamber of Commerce meeting he was sitting in. His body felt sore from the pummelling he had received at the courtesy of Darui, and the side effects of that was compounded by the drinking he had done last night.

After his training session he had gone out with the Raikage dragging his guards along with him. It was definitely a unique experience to say the least.

The Kage could party, Neji thought while sneaking a side glance at the older man sitting at the head of the table. He didn't even look worn out, he thought bleakly. Neji had battled a headache all morning due to the drinking he had done and still didn't feel that great. Bonding with the Kage had been worth it though, and it was a unique life experience.

He'd never been clubbing before as the Kage had described it. They arrived at a nightclub at around 10PM (this was usually when Neji would still be working or doing some light reading). They had been given something called VIP access and taken to a remote area of the club. It was dim inside, with music blaring, but in the VIP section the sound became muffled as they were enclosed in a glass room. The alcohol and appetizers flowed freely in and out of the room.

A few women had come and gone as well, but they had been for the entourage of people A-sama brought with him.

Neji had just focused on drinking and relaxing. After a while he had been able to talk to the Kage without formalities for the first time during this trip, which had been fun. As the night advanced they moved on to play a game of Shogi.

In the beginning he had been sharp and making strategic moves but as he became increasingly inebriated he had gotten reckless and lost. The Raikage was leagues ahead of him in terms of maintaining a clear head while drunk he thought darkly while shooting another glance at the larger man.

It had been a good night but he wouldn't be making this a regular habit... looking over at Gin and Myuru confirmed that they looked rough around the edges as well. That made him feel a bit better...

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Later that night (around midnight) he snuck away from his quarters. Anbu training came in handy at times like this, so he went off to go find Hinata. He hadn't had a chance to see her today.

She must be close to the hospital he thought and started out there seeking out her chakra. He used his Byakugan and was able to catch onto a trace of her chakra at a nearby apartment building about four stories high. He could see her form in there, but not what she was doing.

He drove in that direction and was at the site soon. Getting out from the car he inspected the apartment and after some introspection, started scaling up the walls of the building. He followed her chakra and landed on a balcony not too long after. Again using his Anbu training he pried open the latch of the balcony door.

The apartment was quiet inside, it was after midnight so she must be sleeping. He quietly tip toed over to the single bedroom, and opened the door. It creaked open and within seconds she was up grabbing a kunai jumping into a fighting pose.

He turned on the lights quickly, "Hinata it's me!".

"Oh" she exclaimed, dropping the kunai and putting her hands over her heart. He could see her pulse jumping erratically over her throat.

He looked her up and down suddenly getting distracted by her state of dishabille. She was clad in cream colored satin sleeping shorts and a matching camisole, both edged with black lace. Her shorts ended at her upper thighs showing off a large expanse of shapely legs and of course he could see some cleavage, but he tried to be a gentleman and avert his eyes.

"Oh" she said again louder, turning away from him and grabbing a large black satin robe to tie around her. Now she was covered from her collarbone to her ankles.

"Neji-sama, what are you doing here" she exclaimed after gathering her bearings.

"For god's sake call me Neji" he said moving closer to her, taking in the surroundings of her bedroom. Everything was tidy and she had quite a lot of plants here as well. Some by the windowsill, some on her vanity and some on her bedside table.

"What are you doing here, you can't just break into my apartment, especially at midnight!" she said with her hands on her hips glaring at him now getting impatient.

"Actually I can and did, what you mean is I shouldn't" he smirked.

She didn't dignify that with a response and observed as he sat on the corner of her bed.

"Did you think about what I said?" he asked.

"Umm… which part?" she asked nervously.

"The part about coming back to Konoha with me, and… about being my wife?"

"I figured you were out of your mind." she said getting flustered at being put on the spot like this.

"I was quite serious, Hinata," he said looking at her gravely.

"Why would you want to marry me, you didn't even want to be engaged to me. And now that you are finally free you want to be engaged again?" she said her voice wobbling. "I know you were considering ending the engagement, I know about the scrolls Neji-s-" she cut off trying to suppress the honorific.

"Neji" she finished after gulping and trying not to cry.

He looked at her for a few seconds after that, taking a deep breath as if mentally readying himself. Then he got up and walked towards her grasping her by the arms.

They moved gently towards the bed and eventually came to be seated side by side, both tucking one knee into the bed with the other draped over the side, better able to see each other this way.

He let her arms go wanting this discussion to happen as rationally as possible even though he was impatient to comfort her.

Neji took another breath planning to fight for her. He couldn't rush this. There were many things needing to be said that he wasn't good at articulating, but he needed to find a way... to find the words… for her. She deserved it.

"I dated Tenten after you left, for about four months." he started off brutally honest. "We broke up a few weeks before my 20th birthday."

Hinata exhaled a shaky breath at that news. So they had dated and broken up over a year ago she thought her mind racing. Shino hadn't mentioned it when he visited and she had been too proud to ask anyone.

"When I first started dating her I was happy and content. We existed in our own bubble of childish love. Who wouldn't love spending time with their best friends? But pretty soon it became obvious that we didn't suit as a couple. We got on each other's nerves... often, we are very different and at different stages in life. And we both wanted different qualities from life partners that we couldn't give to each other. I think we only dated as long as we did because we knew the relationship was going to come to a natural end and we didn't want to break each others heart" he finished, and Hinata sniffled listening intently.

"Even if I wasn't the clan leader I wouldn't have married her. We just simply didn't suit that way, it was an infatuation... a childhood infatuation at that. But we are still good friends now at least". He paused getting to the difficult part.

"When I found out you had left I was devastated." Neji said his own voice cracking now. He stopped pausing to reign in his emotions, not able to make eye contact with her.

"I missed you so much Hinata, I think I looked for you every day. I couldn't even sleep properly for months after you left. No one told me where you were and I didn't know how long you were gone for or if you were okay". He paused only now realizing how exhausting that had been... looking for her all this time.

"I asked the Hokage to tell me where you were, but they wouldn't say anything, and neither would your friends or family. I honestly don't think I knew why I was looking for you all this time until I found you... otherwise I would have begged them more insistently."

He looked up to see her now openly crying as well. But he shouldered on, there was more he needed to say.

"I… I care for you… deeply. I don't know when it happened but my life has felt empty since you left. Partly since I was worried about you... but mostly because I missed you so damn much and had no idea if I would ever see you again. I wish I had just sucked up my pride and found you sooner. But I was stubborn so I just kept it all in and waited for you. I tried to move on and find other candidates for marriage, and I'm sure they are all great. But... they are all wrong for me because they aren't you. They don't have your eyes, your smell, your voice, your smile or your kindness" he said now reaching up and grabbing one of her hands and holding it tight while she looked at him with a tear stained face.

"I know I have a lot to apologize for and this took me too long to realize. I was an idiot...what can I say? but I won't leave here without you. I hope that you don't love Darui, but even if you do I am convinced we are right for each other, so I will stay here as long as it takes to convince you to marry me".

Hinata took her hand back from him and wiped her cheeks, Neji's felt his stomach sink at the gesture but he tried to stay quiet letting her say her piece now.

"You can j-just order me to come home with you... s-so why go into all t-this, why ask m-me at all?". He knew at once she was really upset because of her stutter.

"I can't disrespect you like that and pull you from your mission" he said simply.

She looked at him owlishly at that response and he wanted to kiss her all over her adorable face.

"How c-can you stay here to c-convince me, you h-have a clan to run back h-home" she said hiccuping more than stuttering due to her crying.

"I can ask my dad to step in as interim head, I am sure he would understand".

She smiled despite herself at his answer, not having expected that response but also being impressed that he had thought this through and wasn't making empty promises.

"I-I don't know Neji, this is really s-sudden" she said hesitantly.

To Neji the last year and a half had been hellish and this didn't seem sudden at all but he nodded understanding her position.

"I still have six months of my term left here, I would like to finish that. I am planning to come home after. I think m-maybe we can talk then? I don't want you to stay here all that time, I want some space to think" she said quietly looking down, not wanting to make any more rash decisions.

Neji nodded slowly, his stomach cramping from the disappointment. Six months seemed too long after seeing her again. He never wanted to leave her behind again, but she was asking him to leave her alone.

"Do you like Darui?" he asked.

She shook her head looking at him, "Not like that, I don't have feelings for him like that" she said and Neji saw a brief light at the end of the tunnel. But then again what if he were to leave and Darui won her heart somehow in the next few months?

Neji stood up needing to pace and think. Rationally he knew even though he wanted to stay and harass her to marry him, he needed to respect her wishes. He had said his piece and owed her this freedom to choose. The stakes were high with this gamble, but at least if she didn't select him he could rest knowing she was happy and safe.

Neji finally nodded after what felt like 5 minutes of thinking.

Hinata looked at him with a smile, "Really?!" she asked. And he nodded his answer unable to voice it.

He came to her and knelt by the bedside floor, holding her face with both his hands, memorizing her face. After a few seconds he pulled her in for a tight hug loving the way she melted into him, he took a deep breath of her scent feeling his muscles relax.

"I heard there are really nice hills close by that tourists go to visit, will you take me before I leave?" he asked, pulling back to look at her face again. It felt morose to talk about leaving.

She nodded happily back at him and put her hands on his chest. He winced at her touch almost imperceptibly.

"What's wrong?" she asked at once alarmed noticing his wince.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious. Just a few gifts from the fight with Darui last night" he said lightly.

"Let me see," she ordered and he raised his eyebrow. "Take off your shirt" she followed.

So he did without argument.

Silence tricked as her eyes flickered over him, lingering on his chest and abdomen. He saw her swallow and her color heighten. She seemed distracted and it took a few seconds for her to move, he noted satisfactorily.

"Ummm,… yeah you have some bruises" she said lightly tracing his chest and abdomen.

All of a sudden he no longer felt like smirking. But he stayed still as a rock afraid to move.

"I can heal you" she said looking up at him and raised her hands off his skin. Her palms turned green and she hovered them over his body slowly moving them.

Her chakra felt warm on his skin and he watched as all the discoloration and discomfort disappeared before his eyes. He was disappointed when she was done.

"Is there a-any more?" she asked almost afraid and he shook his head no. Watching her face so earnest like this made his heart skip a few beats so he kissed her abruptly needing this parting gift at least.

And she kissed him back openly and lovingly, without any hesitations or shyness as if she had missed him too. Their lips clung to each other slowly moving in rhythm as he swept his tongue in.

The kiss got heated very quickly. Perhaps they were both desperate or it had been too long for both of them.

Neji found himself untying her robe in hurried movements moving himself over her about to push her down onto the bed when he again snapped back to reality and instead moved over to the window in seconds putting his shirt back on and opening the screen wide. He took a deep breath feeling the cool night air.

"I-I'll send you a message to arrange a time to go see the mountains… goodnight Hinata" he said brusquely and with one last look over his shoulders he jumped from the window scaling down the building.

The lust and adrenaline pumping through his system made this task easier than ever. If he hadn't literally gotten out of there he would have ripped those clothes off.

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