Neji quit soccer shortly after Hinata went back to her fancy school. By this point, he wasn't getting along with his parents at all. "If I tell you why, you'll just yell at me," resulted in his parents…whining at him. Repulsed, he went to stay the night at Dante's. They'd quit soccer at the same time. Neither had stuck around to watch how their coach dealt with both a terrific goalie and a great sweeper walking out. That day's practice had been normal until Neji's latest ex-girlfriend had shouted from the edge of the field. From anyone else, it would have sounded encouraging and he'd be kind of flattered. From her, it was jeering. He hadn't been nice to her when he broke up with her, so this was revenge. It was effective. He'd looked over at her and the ball came flying out of nowhere, slamming into his solar plexus. He'd gotten the wind knocked out of him completely and sat out the rest of practice. Neji remembered explaining to his ex once, "I'm sweeper, so I have to take the hit. The goalie could get a lot more hurt than I could."

Coach had screamed at Neji, then told him to stay after. It's not like he wanted to get hit. He'd tried standing up a few times but couldn't because even breathing hurt. "I don't think it's going to go well in there," another teammate remarked. "I think he's going to get kicked off the team." This, with a nervous laugh. Neji didn't care. "If you quit, Neji, I'm—I'm going to have to follow you," Dante said. "Let's do this." They hung out a lot after that. Without any real consequences, Neji tried drinking a little more often. Didn't do much for him. He blew off a couple of classes but his parents flipped out.

When they turned eighteen, Sasuke and Neji applied at the same two-year college for different reasons. Neji, because this one was a great start to transfer into the film school he wanted, and Sasuke, because he was worried he wouldn't be accepted into a four-year school otherwise. A popular teacher at Neji's high school spoke at graduation and made everyone laugh. Sasuke's graduation was boring and he had tech rehearsals starting in two days, so his mind was on that. He ignored that he only had a few months left with the theatre company, most likely. Hinata both laughed and cried at her graduation. Part of her couldn't believe she'd made it all four years. Part of her was so, so glad it was done. She was just going to take everything once step at a time from here on out and enjoy summer. She hadn't heard back from the conservatory she wanted to go to yet.

A week earlier, Neji's parents informed him they and Hinata and her parents, were going to visit family in a town half an hour from Tokyo at the end of the summer for two weeks. This, his parents informed him as they handed him some paperwork. It was for a passport application. His parents were renewing theirs. From now until the plane touched down in Tokyo, they said, they'd speak mostly Japanese with him. Neji remembered maybe two hundred words, and not how to read or write much. In high school, his parents had gone in and talked to a bunch of people, and when they were done, they told Neji he'd study Japanese at a university. He did well in the classes each quarter, but that didn't mean he became fluent. Four years of twice-weekly two-hour classes did not equal actually spending time in another country.

Sasuke took Neji out to eat in the weeks leading up to the trip. "I've been using wooden chopsticks that restaurants give you ever since I was nine," Neji explained one day, "And I still can't figure out how to cut anything."

"Everything in Japan is pre-cut, so—"

Neji did not listen to the rest of what Sasuke said. He shoved the whole bite that should have been two, into his mouth. He was just gonna spill food on himself in front of strangers he'd never met and that would be that. The trip was going to be awful anyway. Neji was a nervous flyer, was hoping to be so hammered by the time the plane landed that he'd puke on a flight attendant, and his parents hated his accent. "They'll see us as tourists if you talk." His mom sounded miserable. "I'm so sorry, honey. We'll tell them you understand some Japanese."

"She says the same thing about me. I hate whenever we have to visit Tokyo," his dad offered cheerily. Neji's cell phone rang and he raced out of the living room.

Hinata had to sit down. She started laughing and crying at the same time, and wanted to scream. She placed the paper she held in her hands carefully with the information packet and ran to hug her parents. "An apartment could be cheaper than a dorm," her mom gasped as she read through the packet. "I want a roommate," Hinata said instantly. "Rent's cheaper and I'll have company." By the time everything was sorted out, it was a week away from their trip to Japan. "I'm not even going to be in the country," Hinata panicked to the person who would be her landlord. "Oh, it's okay. This is just a grace period," he pointed to something on the contract. "I'll give you the keys then. Where are you going?"

"There's a sixteen-hour time difference and—" Hinata was far too worrie to realize she hadn't answered the question. Thankfully, her parents had already been through this. The landlord was friendly and everything was going to be fine.

The flight a week later to another country to meet family she hadn't since she was six, was uneventful for Hinata. Neji's mother stared at her son and, when Neji's aunt asked how she was feeling, Neji's mom blurted out, "I'm shocked at my kid's ability to pound booze down!"

"I understand everything you're saying," Neji grumbled in English. They were flying privately. Beyond Neji's mom being wide-eyed and offended, no one seemed to care that Neji was a little too young to drink. He would be in Japan, too. Whatever. He wasn't sure if he was hungover shortly after, or if it was altitude sickness when he settled into his bed. He was miserable for the first two days. His new family tried to make him as comfortable as possible. He tried to downplay how sick he was, but really just wanted to curl up in the dark. He hoped at some point he'd stop puking and predicting his own death. One of his new cousins, Daisuke, was some kind of doctor and sat with him a lot. Neji later realized it wasn't only to be nice, and felt self-conscious.

Hinata spent a lot of time on walking trails with Haruka, another cousin. She was a lot of fun to be around. Hinata hadn't realized how much better it made her feel that everyone here in their family had the same eerily pale bluish eyes. She'd worn tinted brown contacts sometimes in high school. She hadn't wanted to stand out anymore. Here, their eye color was just normal for them. The house where everyone was staying was a spacious home tucked away in the mountains. It was surrounded by beautiful leafy trees. Haruka quickly introduced Hinata to her boyfriend Mosu. The three of them went on fun trips to the city. Hinata bought better walking sandals after furiously flinging her ill-fitting, blood-inducing, too-small ones in the path of a taxi. She walked barefoot until she got better shoes half an hour later.

Neji and Daisuke got to talking. The doctor understood English perfectly but couldn't respond yet. Neji understood Japanese well but only sometimes responded, his parents' warning in his mind. The house and surrounding areas were beautiful, but Daisuke often went up to the roof to have a drink in the fresh air after work. It helped him unwind and sleep.

"How do you drink your shochu?" he asked Neji one night.

"I like it mizuwari." Neji had it a few times. Daisuke nodded and poured the alcohol and water, handed Neji a cup before his own, and they went up to the roof. Neji slept well that night. Haruka asked Neji if he wanted to go into the city the next evening. He said of course.

"You're twenty, right?" Mosu asked Hinata and Neji.

"No, eighteen."

"Oh, we can't take them to—we'll take you to a restaurant we like instead. You won't order alcohol."

"Can you order for me? My accent is—not good."

"According to your mother," Hinata pointed out.

Mosu was working a little late that evening, so he and Neji took one taxi, and Hinata and Haruka, another. "Follow that taxi," Mosu said to the driver. "It's for the love of my life."

"Mine too," Neji said in Japanese without even thinking.

Mosu smiled. "We know."

And there it was, out in the open. Neji wondered if Hinata knew. Or how many others. Mosu ordered dinner for everyone and paid for it. The food was good—octopus and eel and unusual chicken—and the four young adults laughed a lot.

"Have you ever seen a lightening storm?"

Hinata shook her head.

"There's one tomorrow. We'll watch it from the roof."

Neji checked his email the next morning, wondering about the evening before him. Mostly Sasuke and he emailed, and Neji's former teammates. Hinata and he weren't; they were living in the same house for two weeks and could walk across the room to talk. They had a code they used when they mentioned adult-oriented stories in their emails, which they did frequently. Hinata started it. Neji had found out what she was talking about. In it, a twenty-one-year-old swam in a pond naked, then sat on a rock in a beautiful nature scene and wondered what sex would be like. Two paragraphs later, her teacher was fucking her on that rock. Neji found a careful way to tell Hinata how exciting he'd found it, and told her how to find one he liked. It was a soccer player and a journalist screwing after hours, and he'd tied her up. Back and forth these emails went. Neither had sent anything for a month or so. They were here together now. Nothing was going to happen, but Neji was still thinking about it.

Hinata sometimes touched his arm or shoulder when talking to him, and often stood close. When they were out in the city, he held her wrist sometimes, insisting it was so they wouldn't get separated. Hinata took his hand for the first time when they were watching TV late one night—both claiming they couldn't sleep—and Neji thought his heart would go out of his chest. He couldn't help thinking that when they got home, this would be all over. He valued it now.

Neji and Hinata went on a trail she liked after sunset. He held her hand. Just held her hand. That was that. She turned and smiled when he did, and kept hold the whole trail. Somehow, in the twenty minutes it took the sky had turned a dark purple with heavy, slow clouds filling the sky. They went to the roof. Haruka and Mosu smiled to see them. The sky boomed and a dark cloud was illuminated by forked light. Neji wrapped his arms around Hinata and held her close as they watched. Clouds of all shapes, sizes and dark hues were split by streaks thick and thin of yellow, white, and pale blue. "If you're close enough, lightening sounds like a whip," Haruka grinned. Neji listened, but heard no whips and no real crackling at the beginning. The lightning seemed so close as the storm continued. Right in their faces. Neji had thought there would be house-shaking thunder, and was so surprised at only occasional rumbling. He hoped he'd always remember this and the feelings of awe. How rare this must be and how it probably wouldn't happen at home. He was so glad he got to share it with Hinata.

The flight home was easier than the first in a lot of ways. Neji was jet lagged, and his online classes didn't start for a week. Hinata, though, would barely have three days before she headed to the music conservatory three states away.