Chapter 24

Neji - Konoha (Late February)

February came quickly and with it brought a significant loss for the Hyuga clan. One of their best shinobi, who had also been an Anbu, was killed in duty.

Despite the dangers of their job that all shinobi and Anbu were all too familiar with, they didn't have to bury their teammates too often.

The tag team structure of most missions, the level of training they received, the assignment of missions based on appropriate skill level and the advanced medical technology available to Konoha all meant that most of the time they made it out of a fray alive. Most of the time no matter how bad off they were they didn't have to die.

But Hikado had died while on a mission.

And because of that February had been hell for Neji and for the clan. Neji'd had to go and bring Hikado's body back with the Hokage's assistance. He'd had to make funeral arrangements, assign a plot in their burial grounds for his comrade and friend. And he'd had to be strong and unwavering for his clan in the midst of dealing with his own grief.

Hikado had left a wife and son behind. Neji visited them every week or so to check in on how they were doing. His wife was devastated of course and his child was only 2 years old. So fortunately or unfortunately he didn't understand the fact that he had lost his dad.

Neji's mind flashed back to when he had gone on missions with Hikado.

As a fellow Anbu they haven't shared much, but because of their common clan lineage Hikado had once spoken to him about his struggles with his mortality. As with every shinobi, they didn't want to die but they were ready to face it if they needed to. Hikado's only request to Neji (as the clan heir at that time) had been to ensure that his wife and family were taken care of if something were to happen to him. Back then that had seemed like a far fetched possibility, but now it was a somber thought as Neji stood looking at his comrade and fellow clansman's gravestone.

Fortunately Anbu had a pension system. Hikado's family was covered between that and the financial supports that the Hyuga clan would provide to them. Other than that what Neji struggled with more was the added pressure of feeling the need to ensure his friends son had some male influence growing up. So sooner than Neji anticipated he had become a foster dad.

Amidst all this, clan duties didn't end just because they experienced a collective loss. Especially not for the clan leader. There were still quarterly financial reports to submit, they had to finalize their objectives and key goals for this year and they had to try to fill the giant gaping hole left in the Hyuga defense and talent management program now that Hikado was gone. He had been the key player leading and overseeing those initiatives.

Neji had headaches almost regularly by the end of day these days. Luckily his father had returned from his travels upon hearing the news of Hikado's death. So he had a bit of support in leading the clan through this tragedy with his dad's experience.

He wished that Hinata was here too. Her presence would have gone a long way in calming him down.

He had recently gotten a missive from her informing him that she should be arriving in Konoha towards the end of April. But other than that there hadn't been any other cues or signs in the letter as to if she had made up her mind about his proposal or not.

March

It was 8PM and after a quick dinner Neji was in his study trying to finalize the clan quarterly financial statements. He had been absorbed in his work so he was surprised to find a chakra signature drawing close to him that resembled Hinata's a bit but also was a lot more volatile.

He looked up curiously as a tall woman came into view at the doorway of the study. It was Hanabi.

"Hanabi-san" he got up in respect and bowed to her.

He hadn't seen her regularly since his engagement to Hinata ended but he knew that her training and progress as a shinobi was going very well. She had recently submitted a request to learn clan techniques that were guarded by the main family of the Hyuga. Neji still had to review the request so he assumed she must be here to talk about that.

"Neji-sama" she bowed respectfully back.

"Please take a seat" he gestured towards the chair across the desk from him. "What can I do for you?"

"Umm…" she started off uncertainly, "I don't know if you know... but I just recently had my 18th birthday".

He nodded at her, despite not having known that.

"Uh… I am old enough to marry now." she said with her voice cracking slightly.

He looked at her alarmed because she was getting emotional. Neji didn't do well with emotions. Other people's or his own.

"You might know this, but I am engaged to be married to the heir of the Hitzuen clan."

"Um, yes I did know that, did you want to talk about moving forward with those arrangements?" Neji asked curiously, pushing the papers on his desk to the side so he could give Hanabi all his attention. She seemed to be distressed more than happy though he noted.

"I…" she sighed deeply, "I don't want to marry him". She blurted out finally, and Neji felt a sense of Dejavu… this is probably what Hinata had said to Hiashi-sama two years ago.

Despite the surreal parallel, he nodded and asked "why not?".

"He…" she started off but her voice was shaky, "He isn't a good person, I've observed him over the last year, I've had to start getting closer to him… and he isn't a kind person… he isn't a good person… I don't know if...if anyone should marry him" she whispered looking up at him scared and with her eyes imploring.

Neji felt a chill run down his back at this news. "Has he hurt you?" he asked at once.

She shook her head, "Not outright, but he did ask to fight a few times and he seems to take a sadistic pleasure in injuring people, I mean I am stronger than him, but I can't injure him back as his fiance" she said looking down, unable to make eye contact with Neji anymore. "And there's been other times where he… holds my wrist too tightly or once he shoved me in anger, but…. I … I don't see him often" she whispered. "And I'm scared".

Well shit. This was serious, Hanabi was usually an extremely confident person. This was a drastic change in personality for her. "Did you talk to your father about this?" he asked feeling dread in his stomach.

She nodded her head, "Yes but this isn't as simple as ending the engagement between yourself and my sister… because Hitoshi-sama and otou-san had been friends. If I end the engagement with the Hitzuen clan there could be very negative consequences for all of us".

Neji nodded understanding her dilemma.

"Hanabi-san, I can't in good conscience allow any member of our clan to go into a marriage where they could endanger themselves. If you do get married and need to get a divorce it's a lot more complicated than ending an engagement, especially if there are children involved. Yes it's tough… but let me deal with them. I will figure out a compromise". Neji said, looking at the quartz stone sitting on his desk.

At his words she started crying as if the strength that had held her up till now was drained. And he looked at her helplessly not knowing how to comfort her.

"Thank you Neji-sama, thank you so much" she hiccuped.

"It's going to be okay Hanabi-san, and your sister will be home soon, so just hang in there until then okay?" and Hanabi nodded getting up to leave.

"I think we need to rethink all the arranged marriages we are making while people are in childhood, clearly it is not having good outcomes" he muttered to himself while rubbing his forehead looking at Hanabi's retreating back.

Hitzuen clan's heir was an asshole he remembered now that he had stopped to actually think about it. This is going to suck.

Neji's mind whirled as to what to do, and he would start with trying to dig up as much dirt as he could on this guy.

.

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Hinata - Raike, (Late March)

Hinata looked around her apartment now that it was empty. Everything was packed up in boxes or suitcases. Monsoon season had officially passed and she was due to leave for Konoha tomorrow.

Her work at the hospital had been wrapped up smoothly and she got a glowing recommendation from the Raikage for all her efforts here. She already had a going away party with her colleagues on her last shift at the hospital, and she had taken her name plaque off her office door as a souvenir.

It was very bittersweet. She had come to genuinely love her job.

Tonight she had a going away party that her friends were throwing for her, and tomorrow in the afternoon she was booked to leave. Car's couldn't travel well in the muddy roads once you got outside of Kumogakure's national borders and she had ways to travel before getting to the station where she could board a train for Konoha, and that is why they had to travel by carriage.

Thankfully the Raikage had arranged a carriage for her and an escort squad.

Everything was done and she was ready to go, she thought looking around and dusting her hands.

All she had to do was make her final goodbyes to the people closest to her here.

The next day, Hinata was feeling a bit fuzzy because of the night before. Being her last day here her friends had gotten her more inebriated than she would have liked. Traveling was going to be rough.

She had dressed comfortably and had on a pair of high waisted baggy dress pants that were grey and paired it with a white form fitted top that was tucked into her pants. On top she had a light caramel pea coat, because the weather was still chilly at these high elevations.

A lot of her supplies had been shipped, but she observed Darui overseeing the loading of her luggages to the carriage with a pang in her heart.

This had been the goodbye she was dreading.

He had become very close to her over the years. A lot of people speculated as to the nature of their relationship, but to her he was like a blend of a best friend and a family member. Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected to find a relationship like this in Kumo.

He was similar to Kiba and Shino, and yet so different at the same time. Perhaps it was his maturity.

After the space was empty he turned to look back at her. He wasn't part of the security detail who would be escorting her to the train station. So this was their last opportunity to say goodbye and she struggled for words.

Darui sighed deeply looking at Hinata, and she quirked a smile back at him. So much was said between them wordlessly in those few seconds of non-verbal interaction.

"I'm going to miss you," she said simply. Miss was not a word significant enough but it would have to do.

"Hah… right back at you, who's going to feed me now?" he joked.

She had to laugh at that, "I think you'll find there is no shortage of people here who wants to feed you".

"Yeah well," he scratched his head. "It's not the same, maybe things would have been different…" he trailed off looking out the window but didn't finish his thought. "Maybe in another lifetime we could have been something more than just friends".

She had known that perhaps he was interested in her as something more than friends, but he hadn't voiced it before.

She laughed wetly, sniffling a bit now.

"Yeah…" she said, "maybe in another lifetime. You will come visit me in Konoha right?".

"When I can, you know it's going to be tricky with my work and how far away your country is. But you should do the same. There are a lot of people here who are going to miss you". She nodded wordlessly at him, the brevity of the situation sinking. She would hardly see him from here on.

At the end she ended up in his arms receiving a bear hug and she couldn't help but shed a few tears. They stayed like this for a while as she drew strength from him.

When she pulled away she absently looked at the bracelet in her arm. She moved to remove it and return it to him.

"Don't…" he said, stopping her, "you keep it, I won't be able to keep track of you through that when you are in Konoha, but keep it as a memento. What am I going to do with it?" he said lightly looking at her with a smile.

She smiled back and nodded at him, and then after a final deep sigh with a glance around her first home (of her own), she grabbed her purse.

Darui walked down with her to the parking lot of the apartment and she returned to him her apartment key. They stared at each other for a few seconds and then with one last tight hug she got into the carriage.

Goodbyes like this really sucked. She turned to look at him until he disappeared from her sight as the carriage rolled forward.

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