Heir
By Dan'yu
Anyone who saw him that day would never admit to it, to have seen Hyuuga Neji, the great genius of the Hyuuga, elite jounin, ANBU captain, dashing half-naked and barefoot through the village just before dawn with all the single-minded vitality of a madman.
The silver and black top to his jounin uniform clutched forgotten in one hand, his sandals cast off long ago in his haste, he ran swiftly through the still sleeping village, grateful for the relentless years of training as both a genin and chuunin that had shaped in him a runner's physique and endurance.
If reference to said physique, any woman of the disbanded Hyuuga Neji fanclub would have been struck dumb and spastic by the sight of him, the only part of him they could hope for now, for all their delusions and fantasies that been thwarted with his marriage less that a year before.
Only a half hour ago, he had crossed the gates of Konoha, returning home after another impossibly long mission. Only a quarter of an hour later, his report to the Hokage was completed and he sat under the ministrations of a motherly medic-nin as she saw to the wounds he had sustained. Just as she had cut the stitches to a nasty cut along his breast, more than likely to scar, a young messenger had appeared, a flushed and breathless Hyuuga boy come to deliver the news that had Neji starting his insane race without the slightest hesitation or pause, not even to replace his missing clothing.
And as he stumbled his way into the Main House and burst into his and his wife's shared bedchamber, it was an odd figure he struck, his breath bated, naked upper torso glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, his pants torn and mud-caked, long hair whipping behind him, his hitai-ate in disarray.
To see Hinata lying in their bed, pale and tired but positively radiant, she had never looked so beautiful to him. He approached with hesitant footsteps, reaching her side to brush away sweat-damp hair from her pearl-colored eyes, soft with love and warmth, and gently kiss her forehead before turning his gaze to rest on the newborn babe slumbering so peacefully, contently in his mother's arms.
He had smiled then, reaching out to brush his fingers against a small, milk-pale cheek, smoothing them over the dark hair dotting the child's crown. "He's beautiful, beloved. Strong too."
"Of course he is," Hinata told him in a tone firm with resolution, her eyes shining, slick with tears, watching as he hesitantly, and ever so carefully, lifted the baby into his arms, cradling the tiny body against his chest. "He's your son."
The heavens smiled that day on their child, just as they did on the day of his naming ceremony, watching as they presented to the clan the next Hyuuga heir. Hyuuga Haru, born on the first day of spring, as the warmth of the sunlight shined down on his sleeping form, still so innocent and pure, illuminating the future of the Hyuuga.