Gravity
Part Six
In the space of one week, it was absurd that Neji hadn't been able to find a suitable husband for Hinata. Every morning he had spent interviewing at least one prospect, and his evenings were occupied with various ANBU duties -- most notably, the protection of the Hokage, which was really just guard duty glorified. He was able to spend much time thinking, however, though that was proving to be less of a blessing than it might have.
The more time Neji gave himself to think about each man interviewed, he had come to realize, the more he found they were completely unsuited to his cousin. It wasn't as though he was being unfair in his decisions, either; the men all lacked in at least one of the essential categories he had outlined.
Shuusei, for example. He was young and gentle, and rather a pleasant person to be around. For a time, Neji had considered him as a future husband for Hinata. She, too, had seemed as pleased with him as she could conceivably rouse herself to be (this being an arranged marriage, after all), but upon closer inspection, Neji had found Shuusei unacceptable. Aside from being too accommodating (you could never trust a man who was that compliant), there was a certain spark that he lacked.
Neji had come to find that the man had in fact been in love with someone else, and to pair him with Hinata would have been not only cruel, but utterly pointless. He wanted to find a husband that could love her and one that she could, in return, learn to love. That obviously wouldn't happen if her husband was pining away after someone else.
The second man had proven an even worse possibility. Not only had his gaze lingered a little longer below her chin than it should have, he hadn't really appeared to care much what Hinata had been discussing with him. Briefly Neji had wondered how this man passed his preliminary sweep, but then he had realized there was no mark on his forehead. A Main House member. Naturally, it was one of her father's choices.
He had been dismissed rather quickly.
The third hadn't had straight enough teeth, the fourth had lacked intelligence, the fifth had too much ambition, the sixth not enough ambition...
In short, each man had presented at least one unacceptable fault. Neji wasn't attempting to find the perfect man, but he didn't think it too much to ask that at least one of them could exemplify all of the good traits he desired in Hinata's husband. He was getting a bit annoyed, in fact, that the search wasn't going as smoothly as he would have liked. They only had twenty-one days remaining to scour the Hyuuga compound.
It might have seemed like quite a bit of time, but to Neji, it was almost nothing.
Perhaps the young man he and Hinata were meeting with today would be the 'one'. There was no predicting that sort of thing, however, and musing on it would only prove disappointing if it were not so.
Reaching up, he pushed the braid he had opted to bind his hair into that morning over his shoulder and glanced off to one side. As per Hinata's request, they had been holding the interviews in the garden, and each morning, he waited for her to arrive, and then the man. There had only been one case where the potential husband had arrived before Hinata, and Neji hadn't appreciated that. Punctuality, while important, was the concept of being on time. Just as tardiness was frowned upon, being excessively early was impolite as well.
Shaking his head slightly, Neji was about to shift and glance across the garden once more when Hinata appeared in the doorway, flanked by two of her maids. He watched her smile hesitantly at the women and dismiss them before approaching him, her expression becoming more genuinely happy as she did so.
As of late, Neji had come to find that he enjoyed Hinata's company. She was a woman who could appreciate silence as well as conversation, a trait he had been able to find in few females over the years. Much of his life had been spent in fear that all women were like Tenten, who though outgoing and a decent person most of the time was not his idea of the ideal wife, and he had been pleasantly surprised to find that Hinata was unlike her in almost every possible manner. This was not to say Hinata was the perfect companion, no, but she was an agreeable person to spend free time with.
A slight smile lifted the corner of his mouth as he stood and bowed to her, and she did the same. There had been a time in Neji's life when he would have sooner swallowed poison than even consider the possibility of spending time with Hinata, but lately, it seemed that their meetings were the things he looked forward to upon waking each morning.
It was funny how fate played games with humans' lives, he thought.
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Even though each day brought a new young man and the same nervous, sick feeling that she always got when thinking about a husband, Hinata enjoyed her mornings more than she ever had before. She had a reason to wake up early now, someone that in the past, she never would have thought could come to mean so much to her. Of all the people she knew, Neji was the one she considered her closest friend lately. He was a constant in her life that had recently become tumultuous, and a steadying force.
Many people would have probably consented to the first young man that seemed decent regardless of her feelings, and she would have been married already. Neji was different. He seemed to genuinely care about her happiness, and for that, Hinata could not be any more grateful to him. She wanted to show her appreciation somehow, but every time she thought about it, she didn't know what he would like. Neji was such a complicated man that she didn't want to offend him somehow with a gift. Also, he was practical, so he would probably like something useful.
She just really didn't know when it came to him.
The most logical thing to do would have been to simply ask him, but that was far too presumptuous and not to mention, embarrassing. What if he didn't want a gift from her? He might think she was attempting to give him charity -- which she would never. There wasn't a man in the world that Hinata could think of who was more proud than Neji, and to offer him charity would be to fall out of his good opinion forever.
If she was in his good opinion, that was. She had come to think so, since he often smiled at her lately, little ones, mostly when he thought she wasn't looking. Sometimes she wondered if he knew he was even smiling, as there was a bit of a faraway quality to the look. Then there were the times when he smiled directly at her, like he just had, and those were the most precious to her, because he wanted her to see them.
She felt her cheeks flush happily as she smiled back at him. "Good morning, Neji. Are you well today?"
"I am. And you, Hinata-sama?" He murmured, lacing his hands in front of himself.
She reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair behind one ear, feeling a bit self-conscious. Her maids had insisted they do something special with her hair today, to help her make a good impression on whoever she would interview today. She felt a little strange, especially with the way Neji was looking at her.
"Yes, thank you," she answered softly, forcing her hands to still. Fidgeting wasn't becoming in a woman. "On a day like this, I think it would be difficult to be anything else." 45
As she spoke she glanced up, expression lifting as the sunlight washed over her face. It truly was a beautiful day, the sort that made her wish she was a young girl again in a shinobi team, so that she might run around outside and train with other children. She had taken those days for granted when she had them, and now that she was expected to be a responsible adult, there was less and less time to enjoy nature unless she set aside periods for it.
"Yes, it is beautiful."
Turning, Hinata went to smile at Neji and was caught a bit off guard by the expression on his face. It was... soft, and one she wasn't accustomed to seeing. For some reason, it brought heat to her face, and caused her heart to beat just a little faster for a moment. She was almost positive he was talking about the weather, which didn't explain her reaction at all.
They were both just discussing the weather. There was no reason for her to feel so warm.
He seemed to gather himself in then, his expression closing down and becoming politely blank as he inclined his head. She didn't understand what had just passed between them, but it was different somehow. Hinata wanted to know what it was, but was much too scared to ask.
The opportunity was taken out of her hands by the arrival of a lanky young man in the east section of the garden. Fixing a smile on her face, hoping that the color would fade from her cheeks, Hinata turned and regarded him nervously. He looked kind, but you could never tell how a person was just by looking at them.
Neji, too, had focused his attention on the young man, and his brow furrowed slightly into what Hinata had dubbed his 'thinking look'.
"Hello Neji-san, Hinata-sama," the man greeted, bowing at the waist.
"Otoya-kun," Neji replied, bowing as well. "Your promptness is appreciated."
"Thank you." Otoya straightened, smiling somewhat shyly at Hinata. She colored slightly and dropped her eyes.
Neji gestured with one hand. "Sit and we will begin."
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Wow, this one took a long time to get out, but I managed it! I got caught up in an anime watching binge and now I'm all inspired to write for Sasuke, which is not helping with inspiration for this fic. XD I'm going away for the weekend and so I won't be able to post up another chapter for another three days or so, either. ;;
I've been thinking about what I'll write next once this fic is finished... I've still got a ways to go, but it never hurts to plot. ; In fact, this was a suggestion by InoFan, and it worked out nicely. Inspiration was kind in coming to me. XD Does anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking Shikamaru/Sakura next, maybe...
Thank you, once again, to my readers! Even though this was another short chapter. (sweatdrops)
