Disclaimer: I only own the plot and idea for this story.
"Neji-sama!" The door shuddered under the furious hammering. Neji bolted out of bed and wrenched the door open. Looking at the servant's face, Neji's heart sank. "Hyuuga-sama has called an emergency meeting. There was another one last night."
"Everyone be quiet." Hyuuga Hiashi's orders silenced the uneasy mutterings. "There was another murder last night. This can be no accident. This morning, we discovered Mako-san dead. She was poisoned last night." A gasp had gone up at Hiashi words, and now some people wailed quietly.
"Anbu are looking into the case. Until we catch this person, we must be cautious. Stay together and do not do anything that may expose you to the killer. The funeral will be tonight."
Hiashi adjourned the meeting and Hyuugas left the room hesitantly. An honor guard surrounded Hiashi and Hanabi as the swept out. Looking around, Neji noticed Hinata hunched in a chair.
"Hinata-sama," he said quietly. Hinata jumped in a panic.
"N-Neji-niisan. I'm sorry. What is it."
"Hinata-sama, allow me to escort you for the next few days." 'Since your father would never waste his precious guards on you,' he added to himself.'
"It-It's alright, I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me."
"Please, let me do this. It can be an apology for the exam match." Hinata looked at her hands for a moment.
"Al-alright then, Neji-niisan," she said looking up at him. "But…you really shouldn't…" The rest of her words faded as she looked down again.
Neji couldn't tell if she was hesitant because it was him or because of what had happened to her recently. 'But I will guard her. It's the least I can do.'
"Neji-san." A Hyuuga servant bowed. "Hyuuga-sama wishes to speak to you."
Neji sat quietly at the funeral. The priest muttered prayers at the front, waving sticks of incense over the bodies to be cremated. People moved restlessly in the crowded room. Many people of Konoha attended the funeral. After all, it was for two important people in the most powerful clan. The ritual ended and Neji joined the swell leaving the room.
Looking for Hinata, he realized that she must have slipped out right when the funeral ended. He start for the training grounds, then abruptly went back. Hinata could usually be found in the training grounds, but she had developed a different haunt. Rounding the corner, he saw the girl kneeling on the ground, talking to the air, it seemed.
"Hinata-sama?" The girl jumped, and the fingers that had been tracing the engravings fell to her lap. Neji looked at what she had been touching, though he already knew. The newest name that had been added to the Konaha memorial stone:
Uzumaki Naruto
Hinata finally broke the silence that had descended upon the cousins. "What did you want, Neji-niisan?" she asked meekly without turning to face him. Neji, likewise, kept his gaze on the tombstone.
"Earlier today, your father asked to talk to me." The girl was silent, and if it had been anyone else Neji would have wondered if she was even listening to him. But he knew his cousin, and the fact that she had been losing those she cared about made him all the more important to her.
"They think it's me."
"Huh?"
"They think I'm the killer," Neji said grimly.
"What, but why?"
"Mako-san, Sumi-san and Jako-san were all in the Hyuuga council. They think that I still have a grudge against the main branch and that I killed them for revenge."
"But you wouldn't, you're not like that!"
"Hnn, but they don't think so. I also had the chance to do all of them. I was training the night Jako-san had a heart attack. No one saw me, so they think I could have been the one to cause the attack by injecting chakra into his chest. I was also training the night Sumi-san died. Last night, I was in the kitchen as they prepared dinner." Neji was silent as he let Hinata think about what he had told her.
"But anyone could have done those. What are they picking you?"
"They need someone to take the blame. Three elders of the most powerful clan have been murdered. They can't tell people they don't know what's going on, not if they want to keep everyone from panicking."
Neji turned suddenly and threw a kunai into the bushes. "You can stop spying on me," he said to the guard that leapt out. "Don't take me for a fool and think that I don't notice you."
"Hinata-sama, your father requests that you return to the house immediately."
"But-but why?"
"They don't want you near me," Neji answered. "You should leave, Hinata-sama, before they try to use you too."
Sukari's funeral was even more crowded than the previous ones. Tears ran down Hinata's cheeks as she prayed for Sukari's soul. Neji was flanked on either side by Anbu. They would escort him to his new room after the funeral, where he would essentially be under house-arrest. Sukari's death had made Neji even more of a suspect. She had supported his father's sacrifice for the main family, and the killer had left a message,
THE BEGINNING OF RETRIBUTION
Neji was the likeliest to desire revenge against the Hyuuga council members. It was too late for him to protest his innocence. Too long had he openly showed his hatred of the council, and his recent change was not enough to counteract his reputation.
Hinata would have fought for him, but he had ordered her not to. Too much had happened to her. Naruto had been killed on a mission, and now she lost a woman who had cared for her. When the Anbu had showed the note, she had balled her fist and clenched her teeth.
"Sukari was a good person. She may have created cause for revenge, but she was one of the best." Tears flowing, Hinata then returned to her vigil at the memorial, where her immediate family ignored her. Neji, it seemed, was the only one to worry about how she would be doing after so many deaths, and now it seemed that they wanted to take him from her too.
The funeral ended like the others, and people dispersed in groups, whispered to each other and looking over their shoulders. The Anbu stood around Neji, and he followed them out. Glancing back, he saw Hinata alone at the front, staring down at the body and mouthing something. No one was there for the girl, for her team had been dispatched on a mission earlier. Usually, he would be where her team was not, but it seemed that he couldn't even do that little thing for her anymore.
'Dammit,' he thought. 'One of the things I can do to make it up to her and they won't even let me.'
I'm sorry!! I know I should update my other stories but I just had to get this out. I didn't develop this as much as I would have liked, but I'm gong to try to make the chapters longer with more action. I'll try to update in about a week, and I definitely will this time!