Title: To Where It Takes Me
Author: Kenhime
Genre: Drama and Romance
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The decision of who gets to be with who should better be left in the hands of the creator Kishimoto-sensei. I just write the possible pairings.
Author's Note: This is it, everyone. I hope you enjoy this last chapter. By the way, did you guys see episode 46? If I hadn't written this fic, I wouldn't have giggled so much during the episode. Especially that part when he's describing how she always follow other people…it's almost as if he's chiding her. How does he know what she does, anyway? ^_^
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Chapter Four: Falling Into Place
The streets were alive in the night as all people, dressed in traditional clothing, gathered together for the major celebration that had taken place ever since the beginnings of the Hidden Leaf. Streamers and paper kites flew above me as giggling children held them by the strings and ran around me. Music played and flushed old men cheered merrily, clutching the dishes of sake in their hands. Mothers and fathers handed their young with candy, food, and the bags of fish they won. I recognized Lee and Gai at the hand wrestling contest; and Tenten was having a night picnic with her family.
Still numbed over the incident that had happened three hours ago, I went to the festival still dressed in my normal clothes, a stark contrast to the brilliant colors of the kimonos, gi, and hakamas. My mother, who had come to an understanding about me, left me to do whatever I wished. I trudged through the streets, wandering aimlessly through the hordes of villagers, immersed in my dark musings.
"I am a fool, but I don't know why I am, Mother."
She placed a hand on my shoulder, softly replying, "It's because you have lost something, Neji, something important. Find it out."
But what did I lose? I lost her trust, but as we had many years ahead of us as future husband and wife, I would eventually gain it back. The staff was still in my hands, the purpose and opportunity given to me by Lord Hiashi, and I could still find an answer to the question I had all along. I could still find the key, despite the remorse I had felt for Miss Hinata.
Yet when she told me she had lost it, something told me I had lost it as well. It did not make any sense to me at all. Was the acceptance of the arrangement my undoing? What had I done wrong to want to become stronger?
"Father, is a person's destiny a thing like a cloud flowing with an inescapable flow…? Or can a person choose the flow he wishes? And Father, I have but one goal…I want to become stronger, enough not to lose to anyone…That's how I feel now."
I remembered my thoughts clearly. The frustration of not knowing the answer was building inside of me, and it was made worse by this confusion I felt. The bird in a cage, the seal etched onto my forehead, the destiny I was forced to share with Miss Hinata and my compliance to do so…how did these things answer the question of my fate? Was I blindly pushing myself to nowhere? Or did the key really did lie within the Hyuga and not myself?
"Miss Hinata."
I was thrown off by her sudden appearance in front of me, and had not noticed her name coming out of my mouth until she turned around, her lips partially open in surprise. There was no trace of her crying earlier on her pale face and she wore a kimono of soft white decorated with sakura blossoms. My feet stopped a short distance away from her. She stayed rooted to her spot.
"Brother…Neji…"
All there was…was the silence and distance between us, amidst the noise and clatter in the background. And then…it was broken.
"Hinata!" a familiar blond boy appeared out of the crowd, grabbing her hand. "Why are you just standing there?! Let's go!" Finding something wrong, he followed her gaze, allowing me to get a full view of his face. "Eh, Neji?"
It took me a moment to register who he was: Uzumaki Naruto.
"Hey, Neji, how're you doing?" he grinned good-naturedly, folding his arms across his gi. I made no reply. "Why don't you enjoy the festival? We only get this once a year, ya know. Hinata and I are going to watch the fireworks at the hill, so see ya!"
He ran past me, pulling her hand. I did not look back.
Nor did she.
"I…I—brother Neji—I l-like someone."
My legs took off, through the crowds, through the warm lights, through the sounds of laughter. They felt solid and swift under me, carrying me to the places of quiet I belonged to. When I reached the grove of trees in the residential area, the cacophony was tolerantly distant and no one was present, leaving me to the thoughts I wanted to face.
Uzumaki Naruto. The one she had given her medicine to, her teammate's opponent at the preliminaries. The one who reached down and grasped her blood, promising her that he would defeat me. The boy with those powerful blue eyes who possessed such a strong will that it broke through his obstacles and made him stronger…truly strong. She had loved him for the heart that never gave up, for breaking the fate people had given him with a spirit I myself had come to admire. Why did I not know? Why did I not realize?
The veins surfaced around my eyes and my hands clenched and unclenched. I felt angry, possessive...and inferior. But what would happen tonight would not matter, I reassured myself. Because she would be my wife. That was why I had let her go this once, to taste some freedom before she had to return to the cage.
Wasn't that right? She would be my wife.
I stared up at the night sky and let out a self-depreciating laugh. When did I stoop so low, to become this vile person who was certain that his obstinate fiancée would not leave?
When you knew, the back part of my mind told me, when you knew the person she loved was a better man than you ever were. I had given her words of desolation and he had given her hope. I defeated her and he defeated me for her. The only string that tied us together was the Hyuga destiny and nothing else. Everything she had given me, she had told me was like the sand that seeped from my fingers, something I couldn't hold. Something I didn't deserve.
Who would have known? The acclaimed genius of the Hyuga clan, number one rookie of my class, the strongest genin in the Leaf, feeling inferior? I smirked bitterly. All for a girl?
Not only a girl. The offspring of the Hyuga leader, the daughter of my father's brother, my cousin, my betrothed.
I…
My eye caught a spike of blond hair that barely peeked out of the bushes. I walked closer to it, eyes narrowing, and brushed the leaves away to reveal him. The person was unconscious, and tied up to be hidden far from the sight of people. A singular long needle jutted out of his neck. With suspicion growing in the back of my mind, I placed my hand on his shoulder and moved him onto his back.
…What was Naruto doing here?
Heaving a sigh, I ran my hand down my face, bringing the Byukugen to the front.
"This time, don't fail your lifelong duty, Neji."
With a grim smile, I sprinted down the roads. She always got into trouble, whether she liked it or not. To avoid confrontation with the others, I stealthily leaped on the rooftops until I reached the village entrance. This was my responsibility, and to fail it would not make me a true successor.
Or was it?
Frowning at the questions my inner conscience asked me, I pushed them away, seeing only the mission at hand. With my blood limit, I searched for suspicious bodies of chakra within the forests. I had an advantage against them, for they would not find me. My knowledge of these places was unsurpassed among the genin, and I knew it well.
There they were.
And ironically, at the same place Miss Hinata and I were before. Those Cloud ninjas researched and planned very thoroughly. However, this was the last time. The web of veins on my face grew ever so prominent, my fury augmenting at every moment. A decade ago, they had taken away my father and I was helpless. I wouldn't be so helpless this time.
"Hyuga Neji, just come out and show yourself." Snorting, I walked out into the small clearing, my expression unfazed as I found a bound Miss Hinata near the back and four ninjas surrounding me.
"You know what I'm here for," I responded calmly.
"Of course, Hyuga genius," one of them, clearly the leader, smirked. "But don't level us to those chuunins you fought last week."
"Chuunins, jounins, they make no difference to me," I fell into stance. "I said it before, I will say it again. You would not have her for the life of me."
They rushed at me, kunai brandished. With my hand supporting my body, I landed two high kicks to two faces, forcing them back to the trees. I trapped two wrists of the two behind me and with a grunt, threw them back at their fallen comrades. My hands expertly flicked out four kunai, one each for their heads. I could imagine their shocked faces as the dagger impaled their foreheads. Before they could recover, I charged and landed one foot on one ninja's neck, bringing him down to the ground. I held a kunai in a fist, and brought it down ruthlessly, without hesitation. With the image of my father flashing in my mind, I twisted the knife brutally. The man screamed.
One down.
There was a feeling of satisfaction in me to torture them. One by one, they would die. Die for their greed, their wickedness. I slowly rose like an animal preying on the next, my monochrome eyes haunting them. For my father, to protect the past. For her, to protect the future. I would do anything; stain my hands if I would. It was my life for theirs.
"Start the formation!" the leader commanded. They leaped and landed in a circle around me, like a net ready to trap me. I stood in the middle, twirling the three kunai with my fingers, waiting for their attack. Come what may, my Kaiten would not be defeated.
The three began a series of seals, ending with the tiger seal, before they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The world swirled around me as clouds began to obscure my vision. All I could see and feel were the three chakra bodies of the jounin, and Miss Hinata's faint one.
Then everything went black.
My body was immovable, as if it was weighed down by lead. I clenched my teeth in frustration, but I cautiously observed my dark surroundings, ready to take any genjutsu attack that would appear before me.
It came in a form I did not expect.
"Why are you saving me?" she asked me, her form trembling in front of me. "You don't need to do this. You'd already got what you wanted."
"I am still a branch house member. I shall carry my duty no matter what," I replied firmly. They would never break me.
"You don't need to carry on this responsibility to protect this useless girl. Didn't you say you didn't want this? Didn't you want to break the rules of the main family?"
"I—"
"Father never saw me. It is good enough that I disappear. Disappear from everyone, so that you don't have to marry me. You could still obtain power without me."
"That's—"
My father appeared beside her. "Don't you want to find the answer? Don't you want to know?"
"Are you a man?" Naruto snapped, his finger pointed accusingly at me. "Don't you want to defeat me? You're not the Hyuga Neji I know, who would be so foolish for a girl!"
"Remember your duty—Neji!" Lord Hiashi spoke severely. "As a member of the branch family, you must protect her!"
Father stared down at me with softened eyes. "Listen, Neji. Miss Hinata of the main family…you will live to protect her and the Hyuga blood."
"I don't know about this Hyuga destiny or whatever," yelled the blond ninja. "…But if it's too much for you, you don't have to do anything anymore."
I hung my head, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Why was I doing this? Protecting a girl who didn't even belong to me? What did she know, what did she understand about what I was going through?
Then a memory protruded through the darkness of my psyche.
"It's not for you as a member of the main family that I do this…I want to die and save you as my brother."
Like soothing waters that calmed the storm in my heart, my father's last words washed over me with a peace I had long searched for. It was then that I knew—that I understood. It was an epiphany, so simple that a laugh could've burst out of my throat at my stupidity.
"You're right," I answered them all, raising my head with a newfound determination. "I wanted to find the answer. And I know…finally, I really know." Looking at my hands, I smiled.
"Let your hands be strong, because you hold everything in them."
"And right now, you are holding my hands."
"Thank you. Uncle, Naruto, Hinata…Father."
Curling my hands into fists, I pushed a wave of chakra everywhere from my body and pivoted. The blackness shattered like glass and fell all around me, the fog clearing before me. The enemy shinobi yelped in pain as they were shoved back into the trees, their combined genjutsu defeated.
"Is this all you got?" I smirked.
"It's not our last shot," one jounin moaned as he pushed himself. With white eyes narrowed to slits, I watched them as they began to stand up, their agonized faces smoothing into faceless masks. "We will not fail."
I lifted my hands to the back of my head and pulled on the cloth to loosen the headband. As they watched in shock, I pulled it off and threw it to the side, the metal clattering until it settled in the dust. The moonlight revealed the curse seal on my forehead, the very thing I had always hid from other people's eyes.
"Nor will I," I replied. As they lunged at me, I knew.
They would never break me. Ever.
I fought and fought with everything I had—from the Kaiten to the Sixty Four Hands of Hakke, to the Hyuga's taijutsu. My hands and feet moved in an endless blur, in sync to their attacks. My eyes saw all around, perceiving their movement that surrounded me. Time felt like nothing, and it felt like centuries. There were times when the colors of the night were shone brilliant by the full moon and the fireworks, and there were other times when colors of black and grey threatened to conquer my vision. I felt everything in one moment, and nothing in the next. All I knew was that I was alive, that nothing was ever a dream.
It took me a full moment to realize I had finished them all off. My breaths came in slow excruciating pants as I turned to Miss Hinata, their beaten bodies scattering around me. They were on the brink of death, their chakra too weak to support the beating of their hearts. The Gentle Fist style gave massive damage to their internal organs.
"Never…underestimate…the Hyuga's…" I said, though I myself had wasted too much chakra. One against three was not an advantageous position to be in. I dragged myself over to Miss Hinata, smirking triumphantly.
Her mouth was covered by a cloth, but her eyes were shining at me. Shining with…tears… With a sigh, I took the cloth off her mouth. "How troublesome you are."
"…Brother Neji…"
"Your hands and feet are covered in ink, sealed together by one of them. I would have to carry you—yet again."
Then a hand clamped down on my shoulder. "Not this time."
Warily, I glanced up, only to surprise myself. Lord Hiashi's face loomed over me, lighted by the moon. He looked at me sternly at first before he softened his gaze.
"You've done well. I'll take care of the rest." I watched in slow motion as he executed the unsealing jutsu and the black ink disappeared. He severed the ropes that bounded her and with a finger, wiped her tears away.
"We…did the Kaiten..." I recalled tiredly. His eyes were startled at me. "Together…once…"
I felt myself spiraling into darkness again, this time with no dreams or visions.
When I had come to, I was tucked inside a hospital bed. Slowly, I rose to a sitting position, rubbing my head groggily with my left hand. My eyes caught the glare of the morning sun and I blinked hard. I felt something soft touching my right hand. It was her hand that grasped mine. I gazed at her sleeping form, how she leaned over to nestle her head within her arms. Her other hand loosely held the head guard I had thrown aside the other night.
She stirred slowly until she felt the twinge in my hand. Her head snapped up, smiling happily. "You're awake!"
"Y-yeah…" The door creaked open.
"I can see you are awake." I looked up at Lord Hiashi. He placed a hand on Miss Hinata's shoulder. "I must speak with him, Hinata." She nodded and stood up from her seat. Her eyes never left me as she closed the door after herself.
"It was the Fifth Hokage that found that blond boy—Naruto if I remember—after the inauguration. He couldn't even put up a fight, as one of them knew acupuncture. He was the one you had stabbed. You missed his heart by inches."
It was as if he was telling me that I still had a long way to go before I could kill without hesitation. I supposed he was right. I had never killed anyone before.
"Is Naruto okay?" I asked.
"After being put in a temporary death situation, he would recover."
"And so…?"
"We had suspected a secondary attack, a more serious one than the last for the past week. It soon became clear to us that they had impersonated the boy to lure Hinata out. When we arrived, however, we found you had already gone and defeated the kidnapping jounin."
"What happened to them?"
"We let them flee, for the sake of peace. In a couple days, the Cloud will be convening for a truce with the Leaf."
"Bastards," I muttered under my breath.
He sighed wearily. "It won't stop, Neji, though I wished it did. We are like a prize in the eyes of the other hidden villages, but we will forever stay our allegiance to the Leaf. Although it is questionable as to why your head guard was on the floor…"
"For things I wouldn't be able to tell you, Lord Hiashi."
He raised an eyebrow at this, but discontinued the subject. "Nonetheless, you had been responsible, as the branch family member of the Hyuga."
Our gazes clashed, stern against defiant.
Then he broke into a rare smile. "I suppose you don't want to hear that, huh? Then…I thank you, as the father of Hinata."
I snorted.
His countenance back to normal, he told me, "You have yet to become stronger. I expect you to master that skill soon, as successor."
He turned to the door and before he opened it, it clicked open to reveal my mother. She was startled to see his face for a moment before she glanced at me and was calm again. He walked past her, closing the door behind him to leave the solitude to the mother and son.
"Neji…" With a relieved smile, she slumped down the chair, grasping my hand. "Thank goodness…"
"I'm fine, Mother." But tears fell down her cheeks in an endless stream. I didn't understand why she was crying. She had never cried since the death of my father.
She laughed through her tears. "Oh, don't get me wrong, not that I was terribly worried…it's just that…" She smiled slightly. "When I saw my brother-in-law carry you, it brought back memories. It felt like a déjà vu."
Memories…? Childhood memories of my father…
She continued. "A couple months before your father died, you and your cousin were playing in the woods. You two didn't come back by nightfall and the two fathers went searching for you. As I stood out on the porch waiting and worrying, your father appeared out of the night, holding you just like…yesterday…" She brushed her hand against my cheek, smiling. "It…I…didn't really stop crying when I saw that again… I haven't really gotten over his death, huh?"
"It's…it's all right, Mother," I murmured dazedly. "I haven't either…"
She wiped her tears away and stood up. "Anyway, I'm glad you've recovered. I'm proud of what you had done, Neji, never forget that. He would be proud of you too. Miss Hinata wants to speak with you very much."
This emergence of a long-lost memory pushed me to chuckle in spite of myself. My mother crying because she saw an image of my father in Lord Hiashi was shocking to say at least, for my uncle was nothing like my father other than in physical appearance.
She left and Miss Hinata emerged into the room, slowly. I watched her without a word. She stood at the side of my bed, her eyes directed on the floor and her hands gripped together tightly. She seemed as if she was fighting with herself, as if she couldn't come to a decision.
"Brother Neji…I…thank you…and…" A single teardrop rolled down her cheek in a wet trail. "And I'm so sorry…" I gazed at her for a long while, trying to imprint this image on my memory.
"Can you give me my sweater over there?" I asked quietly. Complying, she silently took the sweater off the hanger in the closet and offered it to me with two hands. I took it and reached into the pocket for the object I had for awhile now. Staring at it, I smiled slightly…before I grasped her hand and placed it on her palm. I curled her fingers around it and pushed it back to her.
"Here…take this and go…"
Startled, she stammered, "W-what do you mean?"
Anticipating her surprise, I answered, "This…this is my first and last gift to you. After this, run away and never come back…"
"But why?"
"Because…then you can be with him and be free." My mouth curved upwards. "If you had lost your key, I give you mine."
She dropped to her knees, overwhelmed. "But…"
I looked down at my hands. "I had found something—something I should have known long time ago. It was you…you who had given me my key from the very beginning. When I was given that curse seal, I was doomed to a fate I had not wanted. I did everything I can to evade my duty. But no matter what I did, you never stopped me. You never activated that seal, even when I almost killed you… Even now, you never let me protect you. You gave me a freedom I didn't see.
"I realized the meaning of being strong, why I had worked so hard to become strong. It was not bitterness nor was it resentment. Because my father died, I wanted to become strong enough to protect the people dear to me. So you see, I came to save you because I wanted to, not because of this curse on my head. That was my key, my own decision to choose what I wanted. And I had always wanted to protect you. I even told you to forfeit that match because I didn't want to fight you. I accepted this arranged marriage without knowing the truth to myself. Now I know…it is because the answer all along lies in you."
I opened her palm, revealing a small pendant…a tiny key. "I give it to you back. It's all I can do, really. So…be happy and just know that I would always protect you, close and afar. Perhaps…perhaps it was a destiny I had chosen without knowing all along, a destiny to protect you." I closed my eyes.
"Long time ago…I remember now, something I once refused to remember. We were playing in the forest and found that spot near the hill…the spot where we watched the sun set. A tiger appeared from the trees and we were both scared…but I blocked you from him. When he came closer, we backed off until you tripped and fell off the hill…"
"Even then," her eyes watering as she broke in, "you grabbed me and tried to cushion me from the fall. You were hurt, and broke your arm. Our fathers found us, and took us home."
"Isn't it ironic?" I cocked my head to the side. "That a week ago, at that very same place, we told ourselves that we would find the key…and—"
"It was there all along. There since the beginning…" Clutching the necklace tightly in her hand, she stood up, trembling. I realized I had grasped the sheets hard enough to become damp with my sweat. I let them go and folded my hands together.
"I had taken away everything you dreamed of, but I won't take away the person you love. Go…and be free from everything. You could start a new life." I smiled at her, a smile I had found in depths of my heart. How everything connected—from the place on the hill, my father and uncle carrying me home, and my unconscious will to protect her. My memories, future, and past were all in one ring, circling around me. Destiny was with me all along and I did not know it until now. Letting her go would give back the key I had taken away from her. Being successor to the Hyuga made little difference to me now, because I knew my path did not have to lie in it. I could always take a different road, even if it was not as glorious as the position.
Her voice was shaky. "I liked him for so long. I had always watched him—watched him even when he fell down. For a girl with no confidence, he was the person I admired. He…was so strong, because of what he had been through and of what he believed in."
"I know." How two simple words could mean everything.
"Do…do you really want me to leave?"
Something got caught in my throat. "If that's what makes you happy…"
She slowly walked to the door and rested her hand on the doorknob, gazing at it until she finally turned it. My eyes closed, waiting for her to close the door and leave me forever. She shut the door, the door softly closing on me. Would I miss her? Perhaps—if that could explain the tugging feeling in my chest. Then a voice broke through the heavy silence.
"I…I was stunned when he asked me to watch the fireworks with him."
My head turned to the doorway, eyes wide. "Hinata?"
"But…that wasn't the real Naruto," she said. "Maybe, even if I had known he wasn't, I would still accept…just to be with him once… And I had my wish." She came to my bedside. "But as I admired him, he didn't look at me in the same way. There's someone else he cherishes…not me." She took my hand and set it on top of the necklace she held on her palm.
"You have always watched over me, even when you hated the main family. I feel safe with you, feel at peace. By offering this to me…shows that I am free. And I choose to stay, out of my own will."
"But the staff…"
"Within the cage is the key, isn't it?" she said steadfastly. "I will not stand behind you—not anymore. I will stand with you. Father will see someday…because I am the rightful heiress beside you and... I am truly free."
Despite the lifting feeling in my heart, I looked for a sign of hesitation. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Even when I never offered you comfort in times of sadness?"
"You offered comfort with your presence."
"With all the things I had said in the past…"
"Yet you always worried over me."
"But—"
She smiled that slightly taunting, tranquil smile. "I think I know now why you've protected me for so long."
"What do you mean?"
Her cheeks flushed. "I think…"
I felt my face growing hot. "No, I don't! No—I mean, well…I…"
All that mattered to me was our hands. They were entwined around the pendant. The key…was ours.
~~~***~~~
"I spoke with my father today. He was curious about that Kaiten you mentioned that night."
"Hn."
"He told me that he had been waiting for that staff for some time now."
"…I haven't figured it out…yet."
"Which was why he said to apply the same concept as that technique into the staff."
"Same concept? …That means that if I channel the chakra through one place and force it out in the other places… It didn't work."
"Hmm…why don't the both of us try it?"
"Okay…"
"…!"
"The two glass balls…it came out. Finally…"
"But—inside the glass are—…"
"Two engagement rings…"
"…"
"…"
~~~***~~~
Don't ask where those words came from…it just came to me. Or it was because I was listening to Coldplay's The Scientist. Who knows?
I hope you enjoyed this story, even though it was short and fast. I thank you, readers.
Hikari no Kodomo (^^ Child of Light, ne?) – Hmm…you see, when he counts, "Two…" you see that he landed two blows, "Four…" four blows, and so on… Maybe the number sixty four he's referring to are the major opening points that you can control… Ahhh, it's so confusing!!
Lita of Jupiter – Thank you for being there all the way! ^^
Furio – I shouldn't say this, but I agree with you… I see a beautifully written story get less than twenty reviews and a story less comparable get like fifty. ^^; And I myself get a little bit lazy when I read the stories I like and don't review. -_- Now I feel how the authors feel. I should spend some more time reviewing…
Question and Answer Section:
Why did you write this story?
At first, I had written this in the question of, "What kind of story would develop Neji's character?" I wasn't a Neji/Hina fan, to be honest, but it was a gradual thing. ^_^; I felt that Hinata was a person that could help him grow, and thus make him realize his own destiny, as he was questioning it at the end of chapter 105.
I don't get a single thing about those fighting techniques.
I really don't either, as staring at the manga couldn't exactly give me a sudden knowledge of things. One thing I did learn, though… The Hyuga's taijutsu is actually tai chi in real life. I tried to research tai chi, but I got confused and gave up.
How was the joint Kaiten successful?
Well, this is my own theory. When Hinata released the chakra from all over her body, Neji channeled the chakra that came from her and mixed it with his own before sending it out.
How did they open the staff?
There were two ways to opening it. Either you master the skill of controlling all 361 points separately (which is extremely difficult, mind you) and know how to send the proper amount of chakra into each specific place, or have two people open it by channeling the chakra through the engraved red and yellow veins on it and then mixing them together. Now remember that if it is opened, then the person is the rightful successor. So that means that if both Hinata and Neji opened it, then… ^_^
Aren't Neji and Hinata cousins? Won't they have defective children?
Well, as Lita of Jupiter told me, it is possible that they won't have defective children. The chance is high, yes, but not one hundred percent.
This story was too fast!
You might think that it was too fast for them to develop their relationship, but they haven't yet. This story was meant to start their relationship; it's only the beginning. I had intended to only make their hearts connect. How Neji will ever admit that he does love her, or what will happen when they will get married, their wedding night…Well, that's for someone else to write. *hint, hint*
Will you write more NejiXHinata stories?
I'm terribly sorry to say that I am not planning on any more stories of this coupling. I have two major writing projects coming up, and there might be a possibility that you won't find any new Naruto stories from me for the rest of this year. I am involved in a Naruto co-write, but as we are still in the planning stage, things are not set in stone yet.
You granted my wish for a Neji/Hina fic!
^^;; Well, I never really knew how many people would actually like this pairing, but err, I'm glad to find so many fans already. In fact, I am also surprised that I turned some people into fans too. Wow… I thank you all for reading this in return.
Will we ever see more Neji after volume 12? And Hinata?
From the looks of chapter 182, I think we will. I can't wait for the next chapters when he'll fight as a totally changed man. I can just imagine him looking cool and saying, "I won't lose to anyone other than Naruto." He's a very awesome comeback character, I think. Hinata is a growing character, so Kishimoto-sensei can't leave her like that either, though we probably won't see her in a long while until this Sasuke Goes to Dark Side story arc ends.
I hope that answers some questions in your mind. ^_^ Once again, I thank you readers, and please review. It's the last chapter, you guys! Pretty please? Review? I'll give you some candy if you do! XP