A/N: I am so sorry for being so late. A short chapter as my apology gift! I am working for my doctorate degree so I have been very busy. Thank you for waiting! Much love!

This person doesn't own Naruto.

Sweltering heat and the buzzing sound of cicadas were enough to make anyone feel lethargic and tiresome. Hinata just took a bath from a nearby creek but she was still feeling tired by the heat and humid air.

But it was not just the heat of the summer that concerned Hinata.

As Sasuke got ready to leave for work as a hired hand for a local farmer, Hinata stood behind him and watched him in slight apprehension.

"Do you think it is a good idea to work in the fields like this?" she asked, looking up at the grey sky. Usually humidity and heat like this meant heavy rain showers.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the worry in her eyes. His dark eyes narrowed and he frowned as if she had just slighted his pride, "I have to work to feed both of us."

When he saw her face darken at the thought of being a burden, he cupped her cheek, "Hinata." His brows relaxed. His rough fingertips stroked her soft cheek.

His dark eyes bore deep into hers. It amazed Hinata how his eyes always startled her with their unique beauty. How could the color black hold so much meaning and eloquence at once-it mesmerized her.

He said in a tone that assuaged her worries, "Believe me. The thought of working the fields under rain does not appeal to me either."

Then his expression became more stern, "But when we exchanged vows, I swore to myself that I will take responsibility."

His tone brook no barter, and Hinata just held onto the warm strong hand that was currently holding her face.

She closed her eyes and cradled his hand as if it was the most precious treasure, "Come home safe."

A brief pause ensued.

Then she heard a low growl rumbling from his chest, "Hinata..."

She opened her eyes to see his face red. He grated, "How difficult are you going to make this?" His hands grabbed either side of her wast and pulled her close to his chest. Suddenly, her face was close to his, their noses almost touching. Her surprised eyes took in his serious features as he glowered at her. Her heart almost stopped as she took in his wild and vivid beauty-his dark expressive eyes and full lips.

In his suffocating embrace, she blushed like a wildfire and stammered, "Sa-Sasuke-"

He looked almost angry in his frustration, and she didn't know what to do.

His larger hand pressed her hand further against his burning cheek.

He approached her, the tip of his nose pressed against the hollow of her throat.

As she felt him nuzzle her bare throat, she closed her eyes shut and pressed her cheek against his, "I-I'm sorry..."

She quickly pecked him on his cheek and apologized, "I-I didn't mean to make it harder for you..."

When there was no response, as a last attempt to placate him, she pressed her lips against his in shattering tenderness, barely grazing his.

As she opened her eyes courageously, she saw him watch her from the corner of his eyes.

His dark eyes illuminated into an alluring color by the sunlight pouring through the gaps of the forest canopy. A color that resembled a very dark emerald quartz.

Then he grabbed her by the back of her head and caught her lips in a hard kiss. She saw the swelling of his throat and his chest beat powerfully beneath her hand.

She pulled back with a gasp as she tried to take in air, "Sa-Sasuke, you're going to get late-"

When he still maintained his grip on her waist and tried to get her lips back on his, she pleaded and reasoned but it was futile.

Only after Hinata pacified him with hushed kisses around his mouth, whispering to him as if he was a child, he released her reluctantly.

Holding her gaze, he looked down at her and told her, "I will be back before you know it, and we could continue where we left."

His eyes opened in half mast, he said huskily, "I'll make good on my promise."

When he turned and waved as he left, she waved back and whispered, "Come back soon."

As Hinata worried, it was raining. But it was not just summer showers. It was a storm. Sounds of clapping thunder erupted occasionally in the distance. After looking at the accumulated rain drops that took their time to fall from the roof, Hinata stared in the dark forests with worry etched into her furrowed brow.

She looked at the grey sky that accentuated the green trees and the drops of rain that formed puddles at the forest-bed.

All day she listened to the deep rumble of thunder and the clapping sounds of rain falling on the ground beyond the window. The sound of thunder came in waves and occasionally the night will blink in the light of illuminating lavender. The clapping thunder drew a blinding curtain of white light all across the sky, causing Hinata to believe that she was going blind.

The sound alone made her believe that Zeus was cutting through billowing volumes of air with his lightning bolt, so loud was the sound. The rippling sound of thunder tore the air bit by bit, disintegrating the clouds. Then the clear downpour of rain that hit the ground. It was so dark that it was impossible to see the rain drops forming deep puddles on the ground. Only the blinking light of the thunderstorm above can show the rapidly forming rings of water. Small eddies formed on the soil. The sound of water tapping and pitter-paddng on the wall filled the household. The sound of trickling was coming from somewhere, bubbling, echoing, flowing.

Suddenly, the sound of booming echoed and the house was bathed in blinding white light again.

Tears of concern not fear clouded her eyes, "Sasuke...come home. Please..."

Then the sound of thunder erupted again and Hinata saw a familiar silhouette of a tall man coming from the distance.

Before she knew what came over her, she bolted away from the door and ran towards the figure.

She spread her arms wide, almost knocking him off with the impact, "Sasuke!"

Drenched to the bone, he looked tired as he stumbled towards their home, his hand wrapped around her waist.

She put a heavy blanket around his shoulders and dried his wet hair with a cotton fabric. He sat down on the floor and watched her getting busy. She renewed the flames in the fireplace with effort due to the moisture in the air. When she succeeded, she thanked the gods and started boiling water in the bronze kettle.

Water dripping from his locks plastered to the side of his strong jaw, Sasuke mused, "You're getting better at building fire." A smile spread over his face, and he brushed his forearm against his nose and sniffed and frowned at the smell.

She couldn't believe her ears. After causing her a heartbreak of worry for his life, all he could do was comment on her improved skills of building fire?

Hinata whirled around and snapped at him, "What took you so long to come home?" Fire blazed in her light lavender eyes as she chastised him. Her eyes burnt furiously into his surprised face as she towered above his sitting position.

It was the first time for Sasuke to see her eyes blaze like lightning.

Never having to see Hinata angry, Sasuke could not keep his mouth from parting in surprise as he stared at his wife.

Seeing him shocked and speechless caused Hinata's anger to quickly dissipate though. She was never one to keep on with her anger for so long, but the sight of Sasuke wide-eyed and freezing made her want to nurse him back to health instead of arguing with him.

She suddenly felt pity at the sight of his pale masculine lips and dark eyes widened in surprise like an innocent boy.

Turning her face away, she muttered under her breath, "It's your fortune to charm women."

When she huffed and turned from him to find other ways to warm his body, she felt a tight grip on her arm, "Hinata."

She tried to shake off his grasp, still feeling the afterburn of an outburst as she seethed inside.

But even freezing and fatigued, he was still stronger than her, being indomitably male. Taking hold of her wrist, he pulled her to him. There was an awkward few seconds where she realized he was going to sit her on his lap, and still being upset, she tried to avoid it. He pulled her towards his lap, and she soon found herself stiffly upon his legs, facing him directly, nose to nose, eye to eye.

Casting her eyes to the side, she still refused to look at his face even when he was rummaging his inner pockets of his tunic.

When she stared at his unfurled hand, he watched her with eyes reddened by exhaustion.

On the palm of his large hand marred with cuts was a purple anemone. The petals were barely hanging as the flower was crushed in his hand but it wasn't soaked.

She looked down at his palm in speechlessness. Sasuke quietly broke the silence.

"I...I keep feeling that I need to give you gifts if I want to sleep with you."

He glanced to a side sheepishly, "Call it a small offering of some sort."

She then just realized it. Sasuke had an odd habit of giving small gifts to her as if he was on some pilgrimage. A handful of wild flowers. Or in his lucky days when he made more money, a treat from the market, like a jelly cube with dried rose leafs. After seeing her happy over the presents, he would cautiously express his desire to have sex with her.

"So you accept it?"

Hinata didn't answer.

He towered over her, searching her face like a lost soul. Seeing Sasuke looking so tentative melted the ice around her heart even though she tried her best to look angry and sullen.

Purposely evading his gaze, she stared at the boiling kettle and spoke firmly,

"Sasuke...you don't need to feel like you are not enough. You are more than enough. You don't know how thankful I am."

There was a weighed pause after she said with a burst of uncharacteristic passion.

Sasuke broke the silence as he grabbed her hand impatiently.

"Hinata, kiss me." Her eyes widened at the uncharacteristic request. He rubbed his head against her shoulder and almost acted like a child. His softness was enough to melt her heart.

"Shh," she finally relinquished her anger and tenderly kissed him on his left brow bone, her small hands cupping his cheeks, "dear Sasuke, sweet Sasuke..."

Suddenly he pushed against her, making her land on her back on their bed.

Clasping his hand above both of her wrists, he growled, "don't coddle me, little wife. I'm not a child."

He reached for beneath and his long index and middle fingers pressed hard on the bundle of nerves between her legs.

She threw her head back at the sudden shock he brought on by his rough touch.

She wasn't afraid of his touches, but felt her heart fluttering at the way his dark eyes gazed down at her face , a smile tugging at the end of his shapely lips.

She wondered what could have brought upon the change in his attitude. He was so sweet and tender, and then one moment he was assertive and dominant.

"Sasuke, why-"When she tried to ask him what brought on the change, he interrupted her with a hard kiss on her mouth.

Then he nuzzled the end of his nose against her cheek, "my wife is so cute that I am worried that someone will try to take her away..."

They lied side by side on the bed.

"Hinata," he squeezed his fingers between her legs, rubbing at her nerves and clit with the pressure of his fingers, "tell me how I can make you come."

She blushed, a wild fire at her cheeks. She curled in a fetal position as he became more relentless in his exploration, curling his fingers as he probed at her clit.

"Hinata-" he urged.

"Oh-" she became breathless as she took in the sight of his earnest dark eyes taking in the view before him.

She had an idea in her mind but it was so crude and naughty that she was afraid of raising it in her lips and contaminating whatever vision her husband had of her. Her husband seemed to think of her as some nymph or even goddess at some point. She didn't want to disappoint him.

He lifted her skirt and raised them above, revealing her soft breasts. Her face covered by the skirt, she blushed and covered her breasts with her arms and he grabbed her wrist and tried to pull them down.

When he slipped her off of her dress, she was fully naked and her hair was in disarray as her eyes fluttered open.

"Hinata, you're so beautiful without clothes," he protested when she tried to cover herself up with her hands, "if I could, I would have you naked all day," his eyes scanned her teary eyes down to her curling toes. Her toes curled as he stared at them and then she bend her legs.

She glanced to a side and asked tentatively in a squirming voice, "do... do you like my..."

"Your?" He tilted his head to a side,

"My..." she lowered her head, "breasts?"

Some silence ensued.

Since Sasuke always seemed calm, almost looking indifferent, she was a bit unsure how he perceived her body. Except when they slept with each other, it was hard for her to read how he thought of her body shape.

Her husband seemed exasperated, "Hinata, for the first few days of the nuptial all I could think about were your breasts."

She blushed at his words and felt a strange sense of relief.

Then he ventured forth, his hand about to graze her chest that she covered, "or do you want me to show by action how much they drive me crazy?"

"Sa-Sasuke, wait-"

"You still didn't tell me how to make you come yet," he said as he drew her closer by grabbing her sides and caught a nipple between his perfect teeth and tilted his head sideways for a perfect angle.

When she saw his long individual lashes up close as he tilted his head sideways, his long raven locks falling across his forehead, she felt dizzy in her head. His broad shoulders glistened under the moonlight as he shifted for a better angle.

"Umm," she blushed as she saw him gnaw at her nipple and then tug and suck with force that sent cold chill down her spine, "you-you don't need to-"

He reached for her nether region again, "I want to. Now tell me," he said impatiently as his index and middle fingers pressed on her swollen clit again as her legs tightened against eachother.

"Ohh..." she groaned as his insistent probing, massaging, and pinching sent electric surges across her sensitive lower part. She kept bending forth in pleasure as she felt like she was getting close to the brink but not quite.

"Hinata-" her name rolled out of his mouth breathlessly, "just tell me what you like, and I will give it to you."

A tear formed at the corner of her eye at the exquisite tension her body was feeling, "I-I like..."

She finally whispered into his ear even if they were the only ones present, and his onyx eyes widened in surprise.

Then a knowing smirk played in his lips. He added forther pressure to her crotch and inched closer to her, "kisses? And?"

When she hesitated with a blush on her face, he teasingly smiled and rested his face on the palm of his hand as he leaned on his elbow, "just kisses?"

When she still murmured incoherently, he peered into her face, "kisses where?"

"Sasuke-"

"I'm serious- where?"

She touched her own pouty lips with her fingers, and he hmmed, "okay, conventional-"

"Wh-where else then?"

His hand shoot towards her sticky center and she winced, "you liked it when I put my mouth-"

She backed off, "Sasu-"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Hinata."

"B-but it's dirty!" She covered her eyes and whined.

He looked at her patiently,

"It's not dirty. It's an important part. Now tell me what else you like."

She poked her index fingers together and then whispered into his ear again, and his eyes reflected a devilish glee, and his whole face was lit with understanding.

Then suddenly he had her lying flat on her back and he towered over her.

Her hair splayed across the bed, she looked up to him surprised.

When he started shedding his clothes, she saw his chest heave in excitement and his lips part in a boyish smile as his dark eyes gazed down at her with all their breathtaking beauty.

As he slowly entered her, she arched her back and her toes curled, and her hands held onto his shoulders.

"Urgh-" she grunted at the girth, but due to his fingers' ministrations earlier, she was thankfully wet. But it was still a little difficult to get it in at first.

His large hand found hers and entertwined his fingers with hers together, "let me in, sweetie..." his husky voice urged her as he entered slowly.

When she shut her eyes tight, he gently caressed her cheek, calling her name, "Hinata-"

She opened her eyes slightly, and he said, his face showing wonder and awe but also seriousness, "I want to look into your eyes when I make love to you." He stroked her long midnight hair away from her pale eyes to take a closer look.

Her eyes widened at his words and before she could say anything back, she felt him fully enter her in a stroke. Her chest rose suddenly at the abrupt movement and he started sawing in and out of her.

"Oh-oh-" as she felt him push forth inside her and withdraw, only to push back again, she felt her chest rising and her body shaking and the heat of her face going up. Her hands grasped on the coarse linen sheet as she felt him entering her in a full blare of fire and fulfilling heat and withdraw again. She felt so tight and fulfilled at the same time that she didn't know what to do.

He said a bit breathlessly,

"Now," she felt his arms wrap around her shoulders and his hand grasp the back of her head. She heard the mischievousness in his voice, "for your favorite part-"

"Sasuke, I-umph!"

He silenced her by pressing his lips against hers, his tongue pushing inside her mouth. As she felt his muscle plunge into her cavern and swish around, she also felt the tightening coil at the bottom of her stomach as heat rose and her body shivered.

As he kissed her, swallowing her screams as he entered her again and again, she couldn't help but envision what a brutally animalistic sight they must be- an entangled mesh of naked bodies pushing and surging against eachother. But strangely, instead of finding this appalling, she felt so erotic and mesmerized.

Maybe it was because Sasuke was so beautiful. His long legs and limbs made whatever actions they were doing, even kissing and doing the "deed," graceful and poised. He dug the balls of his feet on the crinkled bed sheets and plunged deeper into Hinata, eliciting a deeper groan between their joined mouths.

The bed made creaking sounds as they jerked forward and back, as Sasuke seemed to intend to nail her body onto the bed.

When Hinata came, a loud groan was emitted from her lips that Sasuke captured passionately, his fingers buried between strands of her indigo hair.

"Good girl..." he slurred as he kept penetrating her throughout her orgasm and another rush formed at the pit of her stomach. His tongue lapped at hers as they wrestled for dominance until as usual he won and kept indulging himself in her mouth.

Then finally he released her swollen lips and turned his attention to her breasts as she lied panting, her mouth open as her eyes blinked in exhaustion.

Feeling his tongue on her and his cock still buried within, she tried to stay awake but sex with Sasuke always made her lapse into deep sleep.

Right before she felt sleep catching up to her, her eyes widened at Sasuke's impertinent remark.

"Who knew my wife was so kinky?"

When she looked at him in disbelief, he gave her ass a couple of playful slaps. She winced, more in embarrassment than pain as he grabbed her ass. He whispered into her ear, "next time, I could fill you in more holes."

She squirmed in his arms, "Sasuke!" She felt steam coming off in her ears. He laughed.

-past flashback-

It was a cold night when Hizashi's body was buried in silence, surrounded by subjects dressed in white.

The king attended the funeral, and it was treated as the sign of magnanimity by his subjects-except one.

"You-"

Neji dug his bleeding fingers onto the ground and cried out against the king's decision and cruelty.

"You did this-you are the cause of this-"

"Neji ni-san, please stop-" his cousin attempted to soothe him by the side.

Blood filled his nails and tears dropped from his eyes as he yelled the unthinkable at the king.

"My father was nothing but loyal to you-your well-being, your reign, the clan-"

For a while, the king just turned his back to the boy's cries and denunciations and the hell-like fury in silence.

"But what have you done for us? You killed him!"

The women of the palace covered their lips with their handkerchiefs, and the men's brows creased as if they were looking down at hell's dog.

Hinata who knelt by Neji's side cried, "Ni-san please..." and pressed her forehead against his shoulder that rose and fell. But she knew, they both knew that what Neji has done was irrevocable, and he had no intention or desire to turn back from what he just said.

She was afraid, merely afraid of what her nisan's rage will bring upon himself, and she was right.

But the king proved to be crueler than what even his subjects thought.

His wrinkled mouth opened like the gaping hole of hell and what he sentenced upon his nephew turned his listening subjects' face turn ashen and even Neji's eyes to widen in quiet, paralysis.

Hinata's small hands tried to grab onto Neji's robe as his slender form was torn away from her by two soldiers.

Her eyes were so filled with tears that her vision was blurry as it captured the sight of Neji being dragged away.

She turned to her father and begged but to no avail. From somewhere, she heard her sister's infant cries wailing at the night.

The same night of Hizashi's funeral, King Hiashi ordered his nephew to be locked away in the East wing of the Palace of Knossos.

"For going against his royal highness's decision in the way he proceeded with the death of Hizashi," wrote the royal scribe.

The East wing was infamous for being the place where the denounced members of the royalty, usually the branch, were punished for whatever impunity they committed against the main. They were left there with scarce resources, including water and oil for light.

Neji being dragged to the East wing did not just mean that his rank was no longer of the main family. His changed status was alarming but posed a small matter when it came to the longevity of the boy's life.

Neji being locked in the East wing meant he had to fight whoever was also locked in the East wing for survival; the former disgraced branch members who harbored resentment against the main.

Neji may no longer be of the main family, but exiled;however, he was born of the most powerful blood, and that was enough for the people who wanted to lay their hands on whoever had a connection to the glorified royal family.

It was also rumored that people left there were driven to such madness and desperation that the greatest taboo of the Grecians- cannibalism was practiced.

Neji was a boy verging on the threshold of childhood to adolescence and was easy target for the adults.

Hinata knew that, and the vision of her young ni-san fighting adults starving for food, shelter, and revenge drove her to beg at her father's feet without any self-restraint.

"Please, please lock me, me instead, father-" her voice was almost cracking unrecognizably the third morning she fasted and begged, "Neji ni san didn't know better-he shouldn't ha-have said those things-Please grant forgiveness-"

Hinata pleaded to her father to let her see him for just once. It was the third day since she knelt on the cold pure marble floor in the main courtyard.

But the king turned his back to his daughter's pleas.

"That idiot-" Hiashi grated through his teeth, "She is supposed to be successor to the throne, but here, she wastes her breath pleading for someone she should thank me for eliminating."

The eunuch sweated, "Your highness..."

Only the royal scribe's etching of ink onto papyrus made scratching noises in the silence.

One night, swathed in a dark rag, the princess finally ventured to hide into the East wing in secret. It has been five days, and her father was resolute as ever and she could not expect any sort of mercy.

She took a ruby the size of an acorn from her cabinet and bribed a handmaiden of similar stature to take her place, while she dressed as a maid and escaped the confines of her chamber.

She also bribed a branch member, a six foot tall infantry soldier, to help her steal into the East wing. After he escorted her to the entrance, he handed her a burning torch as he made it clear that the princess will have to make it alone if she was to enter the East wing.

When she was left at the entrance alone, she could hardly breathe at the desolate condition she saw.

Her feet that was used to stepping on smooth marble felt the rough texture of stone and mortar.

She held the stashed bread and fruit to her chest.

She felt that she saw a shadow pass at the periphery of her vision but what she saw instead was a ripped veil hanging precariously at the edge of a pole.

She tried to remember the location of Neji's cell that she found out by eavesdropping on the main council's meeting.

Right when she believed that she was lost, she saw a figure hunched over in a corner of a barred cell.

Suddenly, before she could utter his name, the figure rose and raced towards her like a lion. Her breath was cut short as she was knocked to the wall by a swift blow.

She coughed in pain and stared at the figure in fear as she clutched her parcel close to her chest.

Her eyes widened in fear as she was covered in the shadow of the figure that hunched menacingly over her.

A rough hand slammed against the wall by her side, and she flinched at the impact. This was not Neji ni-san. She made a dire mistake.

When she clenched her eyes shut, bracing for the final blow, instead she felt nothing.

Someone grabbed her assaulter by the throat and wrestled with him to the ground.

The familiar voice yelled at her, "Move-!"

She rose and moved to the wall almost instinctively at the order and watched the two figures' struggle on the floor with wide eyes.

Both figures were about the same height and size and both had disheveled long hair, and in the dark, she could not register who was Neji.

Finally, after the hard punches thrown at each other, a boy rose above the other and strangled him by pressing his palms over the other's throat.

And even in the dark only lit by the moonlight shedding through the opened arch of the ceiling, she could make out the silhouette of her former nisan.

Barefeet and naked except for his trousers, Neji was only the shell of the prince he had been. And Hinata did not recognize the wrapped bandages around his forehead.

He frowned at the overly sweet flesh of the strawberry, but at her urging, he took several more bites.

He urged the tip of the red berry at her lips, and she hesitantly took a bite, her teeth gnawing at the juicy flesh at first as her wide eyes stared back at him.

The fruit was red, sweet, with only a ghost of tangy flavor at the heart of the flesh.

Her eyes illuminated at the bright sunshiny flavor, and she smacked her lips.

Neji made a rare laugh, and her eyes jerked open to see his entire face glow.

She looked at him in a quiet surprise, and a smile spread over her features as she chuckled tentatively as if she was afraid that her laughter would be so loud that they would be caught in the act.

At her careful attempt to laugh along, something in Neji's heart broke and his laughter died down and instead a dispiriting sadness cast over his softened features.

"Neji ni san, why...?"

He said after a pause, "It is not safe for you to be here."

"It's not safe for us to be like this anymore."

"Like..."

His voice completed hers. "Together."

She felt the urge to huddle close, but the seriousness that was unbecoming of his soft, youthful features told her to not come too close.

After another moment of silence, Neji opened his mouth, "If only there's a way..."

Then he looked at Hinata as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life, his brows arched downward over his widened eyes the color of glaciers, his chiseled lips slightly apart.

He leaned closer to her and placed his bandage wrapped hands over her bare shoulders, "Hinata..."

He leaned even closer, and her eyes widened and she hushed her breath. His breath fogged up in the air and caressed her lips.

His fingertips felt sticky against her bare arm and she giggled at the ticklish sensation.

Neji merely looked at her reaction curiously.

Then they heard a booming voice, "Stop!"

They stood frozen the way they were as if chilled ice water splashed over their head and drenched their faces all of a sudden.

They were caught by the king's guards.

It was a week since the king ordered Neji to be taken to another dimension of the East wing where he was to be subject to interrogation and torture.

Her eyes widened as she realized who it was before her.

She expected her immediate reaction to seeing him again to be tears. But strangely, the shock of seeing him again so close caused her head to go point blank, and all she could do was stare at him with wide opal eyes. Her lips clammed shut as her eyes kept staring at the boy whose name she dare not say out loud.

She didn't close her eyes as she saw his hands approach her vulnerable, exposed face. It was as if she was determined to not close her eyes.

She didn't know what she was expecting.

And it is so weird,she thought, because I used to imagine what it would be like to see him over and over.

It almost seemed as if the darkness radiated from his very being. Spots of blood, someone else's, marred his pale, translucent face.

Bodies strewn across the floor. The rank of blood assaulted his senses, his knees almost gave away.

As he covered his bleeding forehead, his left eye stared vacantly at the mortar floor.

But she knew she did not expect the soft way the pads of his fingers pressed on her cheek. As he towered over her, she had to crane her neck to look up at him. He slightly hunched over to be able to look at her face. His long dark hair fell across his face as he subtly bent over, looking down at the girl who looked so fragile and breakable.

"I don't see you anymore. I only see your father."

She stood still. His words pierced through her chest.

She felt like a wounded bird gasping for air as it tried to vainly beat its broken wing.

The tentative way his touched her face as if she was glass was a sharp contrast to the words that tore her apart.

Then she felt the bandaged hand that was grazing against her cheek gently grip the side of her face. A faint shudder ran past her entire body as she heard his voice,

"So don't be queen to a foreign country. Don't run away and seek solace. You have no right to be free. You are in every way complicit in this, my fathers death, your father's reign."

In turn, tears started to fall from her eyes that still remained fixed on his face.

"Yes, yes, I won't be a queen. I will be ruler of Cretes, but ruler in name only. I will be your figurehead. Your dummy. Hit me till your knuckles bleed. Use me as a mouthpiece. See my father, not me."

If-if it makes you feel any better—

"So please, please, Neji ni, don't fall down. "

His eyes shone like limestone under the blinding sun.

"why are you doing this?"

Because I lo-

"Because you are my hero, Neji ni-"The words she spoke from her mouth came back and lanced herself, the pain surpassing any of what she had experienced.

As he stared at her face, she kept staring back at him with those eyes that streamed with tears. Tears of grief and compassion that drove him mad.

Her eyes no longer held fear. Instead they held overwhelming sorrow, sorrow for him.

He gritted his teeth, "No, don't look so sad."

But how could she not, when there is so much sorrow in his eyes?

Somehow the sorrow in her eyes set flame his anger at her, their situation that keeps getting entangled in a mesh of misunderstandings and hatred, where nothing goes right or could ever and they have to just hate each other and keep hating each other just to breathe safely the next day. Her tears reminded him of how powerless he actually was to rectify their situation and he barked back against the silent tirade of her tears because what else was there to do the one who is the very breathing testament to his weakness? He just couldn't understand why in the damn hell he had to play this part. Where even cradling her tearful face between his hands, he had to continue crushing her heart that bled for him at that moment. Where apology and confession only played the part of added insult, before the ultimate knife that they will plunge into each other's sickening pits of stomach-his or hers, his entire life will be the tag of who gets to plunge the knife first. Because she, for all her tears and care, will always be the legacy of his father's murderer. There was no choice but to let hate fester where affections used to be.

When she heard the news from her father's messenger Kou, Hinata could barely register what was passing from his lips.

Her hands that held onto the straw basket of strawberries went lax, and the sweet fruit rolled unceremoniously on the floor.

The king ordered the exiled prince on a war expedition over seas, at the age of nine.

Nine. Death. War. Swords. Blood.

Her fingers shook as she felt her toes feeling clammy. This was madness, this was outrage, this was murder.

"This injustice!" the princess cried, "I sh-shall go to father-"

Kou held out his robed arm. There was solemn pity in his eyes, "Princess."

For the first time, she used her cold voice against her tutor, "Move aside."

"Princess."

When Hinata ducked beneath his arm and was about to run, Kou said firmly, "It was Neji sama's wish."

She stopped in her tracks, "what...?"

"Wh-why would Neji ni san go to his own deathbed? There must be a mistake!"

"Neji sama," the aristocrat turned and bowed his head, "chose between his gracious majesty's two alternates. Give up his royal birthright and live as an aristocrat. Or... join the forces overseas."

"Why," tears dropped from her wide eyes, "why would Neji ni san choose that? Why would he leave us? Why would he choose death?"

She balled her hands into fists and bowed her head and shook. For the first time she felt in a long time, she felt the fire of anger burn in her chest.

And then sheer heartbreak.

Neji left her. He chose to be free without her. He left her. After making her promise that she won't leave! Why did he left her, why?

"Princess Hinata," Kou said tentatively, "there is still time...Neji sama still has not embarked on the ship. You could still persuade him."

At Kou's word, Hinata's head jerked up and her eyes held scintillating joy and hope.

At Kou's guidance, she ran to the golden shores where she saw the expedition troops line up as they headed on board.

And there, she saw him, standing in line, clad in gladiatorial leather sandals and a single lambskin bag slung over his right shoulder. Her ni-san.