Title: Love and Sharp Edges

Author: Sintari

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: Neji/Hina

Written for the Stages of Love LJ Community, Challenge #2 Romance

On Hinata's fifteenth birthday, Neji casually handed her a ceramic pot to hold her salves. Utilitarian and white, it replaced the one her father had forced her to break when he decided she spent too much time on her herbalism.

For her sixteenth birthday, Neji gave her five wax-paper packets of blinding powder, careful to slip them to her when Hanabi was at school, accompanied with tersely whispered instructions to keep them always within her reach.

Yes, there are more traditional gifts. But Neji would never bring her roses.

Because where they are from, love is already a sharp-edged thing.