Warning: Tiny bit of slash, if you look for it. Possible spoiler about Sasuke in later chapters of the manga, though I'm not sure 'cause I haven't actually read that far yet. And OOCness? I dunno, you decide.
Fly Away Home
I.
The first thing Hinata did, as head of the Hyuga clan, was to lift the curse from Neji's head.
Finding the cure was not so hard, because for every deadly curse a ninja knows, he also knows the counter of it. The same was for the Main House. No, the hard part was gathering the courage to sneak into her cousin's room.
He laid on his back, perfectly still except the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest. The moonlight made his pale skin glow, and several times she was forced to stop and close her eyes, until the tremors subsided.
His hair was splayed upon his pillow, free from its constraints in the secrecy of night. Hinata adverted her gaze, the sight too precious for her eyes. Instead, timid white orbs traveled slowly up the collarbone, along the edge of the chin, past thin lips, and over the tip of a sloped nose to land upon the marred flesh of her cousin's forehead. She bit her lip, a dull ache in her heart, as the mark of her house, the cursed 'bird in a cage', was bared blatantly before her.
No longer able to stand the accusing glare of the mark, her hands quickly went through the motions she had tried a thousand-fold, practice being the only thing that kept her shaking hands from slipping out of position.
Nearing the end, she drew a kunai knife from its holder, sweaty hands gripping its handle harshly as she brought the biting blade to the soft flesh of her palm. And squeezing her eyes shut, she cut into skin.
The pain was sharp before falling into a dull throb as warmth spilled onto her palm, and she knew it was her blood. Hyuga blood.
Main House blood.
She knew there was not much more time, knew the cut was not deep and would close soon, but still she kept her eyes shut.
Perhaps she was not really here. Perhaps she was still waiting quietly in her room, waiting for the servant who would tell her when the rest of the family was finished eating so she could have her turn. Because Hinata always waited.
And you had hated it.
Her eyes snapped open, shock wracking her body. And she remembered.
Fingers dipped in the quickly cooling blood, Hinata looked once again at the face of her sleeping cousin, so peaceful but for the harsh lines that extended so much further than the span of his forehead.
With trembling hands, she drew the first symbol.
II.
By morning, Neji was gone.
Hinata had not found out until she overheard the older members of her council whispering in one of the sitting rooms. They apparently had not seen her standing at the doorway.
They never did.
With the customary bow, everyone was seated once again. A heavy silence settled as all eyes turned to the young heiress, who though sitting at the far end where the head member should sit, seemed smaller than she should be. Like hawks, they waited.
Hinata blushed, her head tucking against her chest. "P-please, continue."
The room seemed to burst as everyone started talking once again. Angry exclamations and calm rebuttals were tossed back and forth, and the young heiress drew further into her seat.
"I say we need to report him as a missing nin."
Hinata froze.
"What of the secrets of the Hyuga family bloodline?"
"He is a Branch. It will not matter if he is dead."
The rest of the conversation did not reach Hinata's ears. What were they saying? They would kill Neji-niisan, simple as that? What of his skills, his potential?
What of his dreams?
I want to fly away…
"N-no."
"…Hinata-sama?"
Her hands were clutched into fists in her lap, nails biting into the gauze wrapped around her left palm. She stared at the spidery fabric, reminding herself of what she had done, what she had to do, and steeled her eyes to meet that of her council.
She swallowed hard, willing her voice to sound stronger, more solid. "No."
Several wizen heads looked at each other. "I'm afraid we do not understand, Hinata-sama. No to what?"
It took another few seconds before Hinata could find her voice, which to her quiet astonishment, did not stutter.
"No, we will not report Neji-niisan as a missing nin."
"But Hinata-sama—!"
"Hiroshi-san." Her voice was soft, same as it always had been, but it was filled with something she could not describe. The whole counsel quieted, and she realized…they were listening to her.
"Neji-niisan carries the blood of Hyuga within him. He will neither betray Konoha nor this family." Young eyes met old, holding their gaze with a hidden determination that had only been revealed once before.
"This is my decision."
There were no words said as she stood up from her seat, no loud objections as she walked out the door, and no outbursts from the room as she headed for the gardens.
Sitting upon a stone bench, Hinata finally allowed the memories of the past ten minutes flood her mind. The words that were said, the actions that were taken, the consequences that would result. Strangely enough, fear did not grip her like a heavy chain, and her hands did not begin to shake.
She had never felt so light.
A flock of birds flew overhead, and Hinata smiled.
III.
Naruto had finally become Hokage.
It had only been a week ago when she had attended the ceremony, where after being decked in the traditional clothing of the greatest ninja in Konoha, the blonde had let out a characteristic "Hell yeah!!! In your face, losers!!"
Sasuke had hit him in the head for that one.
Against all odds, the Uchiha had eventually been brought back. It was none other than Naruto himself. The blonde had showed up at the village gates with a bloody and dirty Sasuke unconscious on his back, himself in a similar state, which was startling considering the boy's abnormally fast rate of healing. Hinata had been the one to treat them, being one of the best medical nins in the village.
She remembered those turbulent days as the young Uchiha heir had been recovering. Random spurts of arguing would pass through the wooden hospital door as she changed bandages, eventually escalating to masked shinobi trying to get in through the windows. Anbu had to be placed around the room and the building as a precaution.
It had not been much better once Sasuke awoke either. For days, he refused to talk to anyone, sitting alone in his monitored hospital room, staring out the window with a faraway look in his eyes. He barely responded when Hinata would ask him how his injuries were feeling.
It wasn't until the day Naruto came charging into the room, and shrugging off Hinata's attempts to stop him, smacked the silent boy across the face, demanding answers because "goddamnit, Sasuke, at least tell us what happened before the whole village kills you!!" that they got their first words.
"He's dead."
Hinata never found out what those words meant, but apparently Naruto knew, and that was all that mattered.
That had been years ago, and Konoha had slowly healed. Sasuke still wasn't completely trusted, and Hinata suspected that he never would be, at least not by those who knew what he had done. Only Naruto seemed to be the exception, like he usually was.
Hinata inhaled deeply as she walked the outskirts of her family grounds, a soft smile on her face. She knew of why Naruto was so accepting of the Uchiha heir, saw the looks, similar to those she shot the blonde when they were younger, though she eventually realized hers were more out of respect and awe for the other's inner strength. No, it did not bother her, this observation. It was more of a welcoming feeling, this feeling that everyone was home at last.
Everyone but one.
Ever since that night years ago, she had neither seen nor heard anything about him or his whereabouts. During the early dawn, when she watched the birds begin to rise to the bright new day, she imagined he was off somewhere, living life just the way he wanted to. And during cold nights, when the rain poured particularly hard, she feared he was in a ditched somewhere, badly injured or dying. But there was no evidence of either, no matter how much she searched. It was as if he had disappeared off the earth and into the sky. And she wouldn't have been surprised if he had.
She was reaching the gates now that separated the Hyuga household from the rest of the village. It was one of the new changes that Naruto had made as Hokage. A smile tugged at her lips as she remembered when the enthusiastic new Hokage found out that he wouldn't need to change the Hyuga clan like he promised back during the Chuunin exams, much of it having already been done over the years by Hinata herself.
"Well, if I can't change it on the inside, at least I can change it on the outside!"
As she drew closer, she began to make out a tall figure, a man, standing in the middle of the pathway, seeming to be lost. Closer still, and she could see that the man's clothes were travel-worn, the luster in his long hair dulled by dust. And under a dirt-covered face, she saw bright white eyes.
Time stopped.
Slowly, the man bowed, a deep sweep at a perfect 90-degree angle.
"Hinata-sama."
His voice was deeper. Hinata smiled as she met his eyes confidently.
"Welcome home, Neji-niisan."
Owari
Author's Note: Bwah, finally got this idea out of my head, though it was suppose to be more of a drabble shot.
There are so many things I should be doing, A Rock in the River being one of them, but I cannot resist Neji/Hinata. XD Gotta love those Hyugas.
I realize there may be a million things wrong with the Sasuke part. Please understand that I have not yet read that part in the manga, so the details may be inaccurate. And I know that there could have probably been a lot more development about Sasuke's return, but really, as much as I love the little angst-filled bugger, this fic is not about him.
Final note. Hinata may seem very different near the end of the story. OOC or not, I believe she has the potential to be strong, if only given the opportunity to grow.
Thank you and please review!
---Inaho