ONESHOT REQUEST: Hikari and Neji, Skyshipping; slight Hikari and Kiba, Alphashipping
For kpopisawesome: In which Neji gets jealous and Hikari gets angry. Takes place during the timeskip, no AU (not necessarily canon, however).
-O-O-O-O-
"Ehhhhhhh?!" Ino screeched. "Date?!"
Kiba grinned, baring his fangs at them. The girls of the Rookie 9, Ten Ten, and Hikari were seated in front of a café, eating dango.
"Yup!" he said. "Hikari, go out on a date with me!"
She stopped chewing, considering the proposal. "Hmm," she mused, eyes contemplative. "Is there any reason why?"
"It'll be fun," he said, scratching his cheek with a finger, "and you're pretty." Her hand jerked. "Plus, I get along best with you out of all the girls I know."
"O-oh."
They turned to see Hinata with her head down, poking her fingers together.
"I, I meant in a non-sister-brother way! You're like a sister, Hinata!" Kiba flailed.
Hinata brightened. "Okay."
Kiba turned back to Hikari. "So, what do you say? Do you want to spend a day with the one and only, super hot Inuzuka Kiba?" He pointed his thumb at himself, running his other hand through his hair.
"You're not hot," Hikari deadpanned. She bit the last dumpling off the skewer and threw the skewer at a nearby target, put there for the amusement of shinobi (and, Hikari suspected, one Mitarashi Anko, an avid dango-eater and well known regular at the café she was at). It hit the middle, knocking out the previous stick. "But you're pretty cute. Alright, why not?" she agreed.
"Great! Meet me tomorrow in front of Seishin's Weapons Shop at nine! Wear your training gear," he said, pumping a fist in the air. He quickly ran off, leaving the girls blinking and Hikari reaching for another skewer of dango.
"Oh Kami," Sakura breathed. "Did this just happen? It did, right? I'm not hallucinating? This is really happening. Hikari is actually going to do something in her leisure time other than training."
"Hey, I take offense to that. But it's true, I guess," Hikari affirmed, finishing off another stick.
"…but why? You like someone else," Ino's confused voice rang out softly.
She turned her blue eyes onto Ino's own baby blues.
"Weellll," she drawled. "Like I said, Kiba is pretty cute. He's fun to be around, and he has a puppy. I might as well enjoy myself. Besides, I'm good at dealing with his type." When she saw Ino's confused face, she added, "Loud, hyper, and slightly stupid, but well-meaning and sweet. Like Naruto and Takahiro. Except Takahiro isn't sweet."
Understanding dawned on Ino's face.
"I guess you have a point there," she admitted. "He is pretty cute, and it's just one date. Okay!" She slammed a palm flat onto the table they were seated at. "Crash course in dating at my house! Let's go!"
Hikari barely thought, Oh, crap, before she was being whisked away by Ino by her elbow. She managed to throw some money onto the table, and finally let herself be dragged.
There was no stopping Ino when she had her mind set.
Hinata and Sakura followed, but Ten Ten said goodbye. "Sorry," she said, making a sympathetic face at her plight, "but I have something I need to do."
"Ten Ten, you traitor."
They arrived at Ino's house, entering through the flower shop and climbing the stairs to the apartment on top of the store.
"I'm home! And I brought my friends with me!" Ino called.
"That's fine!" her mother called back.
Ino pushed Hikari into her room, and slammed the door shut behind Hinata and Sakura. "Alright," she said, lips curving into an evil smirk.
"Let's begin."
-O-O-O-O-
Neji's form faltered as he reeled from shock.
"What?" he demanded, whirling to face Ten Ten.
"Hikari is going on a date with Kiba. I thought you'd want to know, because you really like her," she repeated.
He opened his mouth to reply, frown deepening, but Gai interrupted.
"Neji, do not stop in your training! You will never reach the Springtime of your Youth at this pace! 100 more repetitions!"
Neji glared at nothing in particular as he leapt into another string of katas. "I do not 'really like her'," he hissed.
"I'm sure," Ten Ten agreed amiably, pulling out her kunai. "They're meeting in front of Seishin's Weapons Shop at nine tomorrow."
"I don't care."
But he knew he did, and so did Ten Ten.
-O-O-O-O-
The next day, Hikari found herself being followed by a mass of familiar chakra signatures as she walked to the meeting spot.
Let's see, that's Ino, Sakura, Takahiro, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Shino, Ten Ten and Neji.
She blinked. Wait, Neji?
Well, that was a surprise. She shrugged it off. "Hi, Kiba," she said, spotting him waiting with his puppy, Akamaru. "Hi, Akamaru. Did you two wait for very long?"
"Nah. Besides, I'd wait for you my entire life if I had to." He winked, cracking another grin at her.
She rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Let's just go. What are we doing today?"
"That's a surprise," he teased, reaching out and intertwining their fingers. He tugged on their hands. "Let's go!"
A burst of chakra made her jump, which caused Kiba to give her a questioning glance. That was Neji. Did something happen? As Kiba led her to their destination, Hikari glanced down at their joined hands. "A bit forward for the first date, isn't it?"
"First date, huh? Are you expecting more dates then?"
She flushed, averting her eyes. "No, I'm just saying-"
Kiba laughed. "I know, I know. But there might not be another date, you know? We both came for a fun day, not a relationship, so I want to do as many coupley things as possible today. Plus, I finally got to see you embarrassed!" He reached with his other hand and tapped her nose with a finger.
"Careful, Inuzuka. I bite." She clacked her teeth together for emphasis.
"Ooooh, scary. I might be shaking in by sandals."
She smiled sweetly and gripped his hand hard, channeling chakra to crush his fingers.
"OW- ow, okay, OW- I'm sorry!" he cried. She merely closed her fist tighter.
"What was that?"
"I'M SORRY!"
"Good."
-O-O-O-O-
Ino barely restrained a squeal as Kiba took Hikari's hand. She repeatedly hit Takahiro's shoulder out of excitement.
"Ino, that hurts!" he whispered.
"Look at them! They're being so cute, I can't handle it! If they actually started to date-"
Chakra exploded. Everyone flinched, looking around for the source.
Hinata found it first. "Neji-nii-san..." she trailed off.
Neji stood up straight, seemingly oblivious to the fact that chakra was streaming off of him in angry waves. He stalked away from their hiding spot, following Kiba and Hikari.
"Oh, boy," Ten Ten muttered as she hurried to follow him.
Ino and Takahiro exchanged a glance.
"You don't think..."
"No. No way. They're always snarking at each other. Even if that's Hikari's way of showing affection."
"But what if?"
"No. Not Hikari. Hikari is mine," Takahiro pouted. "I'm being nice and letting Kiba borrow her only for today. No more after that. No Neji, no Kiba, no one. Mine."
Ino facevaulted. "She's not yours."
"Yes, she is."
"No, she's not. If anything, Naruto has claim because they're sib-"
"Can you guys shut up? Man, so troublesome," Shikamaru yawned.
"Yeah, what Shikamaru said," Chouji added, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.
"Ugh, whatever," both Ino and Takahiro said.
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari glanced behind her, but she couldn't spot any of her friends.
"Hey, Kiba," she said, tugging on his hand. "Do you know we're being followed?"
"Yeah, I can smell them," he confirmed. "They're upwind from us."
"Do you want to do anything about it?" she asked, eyeing him from the side of her eye. He eyed her back.
"Like what?"
"Well," she began. "You had us wear our training gear, so I'm assuming we're going to do an activity that requires some form of training. We could accidentally cause something to happen to them. You know, by accident, if you get what I mean."
He stared at her for a couple more seconds. "Hikari..."
"... I think I'm in love."
She smacked his shoulder with her free hand. "Oh, shut up."
"No, but really, I like the way you think. Let's do it! Ah, we're here."
She looked up to see a huge building. Wait...
"Are you serious? We could get killed in here!"
"It's just an obstacle course."
"Yeah, an obstacle course that our senseis couldn't even complete. Kiba, we're going to die."
He smirked. "Don't worry about it! There are levels: Civilian, Academy student, Genin, Chunin, Special Jounin, Jounin, ANBU, and Hokage. Our senseis tried the Hokage one. We can do the Genin one, since I'm a Chunin and you're a Special Jounin, and work our way up. There are people to make sure nothing bad happens. The worst thing that can happen is a broken bone."
Then, he snickered, "Besides, our friends will have trouble following us here."
"Let's go," she said immediately, marching in.
-O-O-O-O-
"They're insane!" Ino shouted. "Crazy! They're committing suicide together!"
Takahiro was unresponsive, face white and body stiff. Ten Ten's mouth dropped open.
"Oh, Kami," Sakura breathed. "What do we do?"
"Notifying our senseis would be the best course of action to take. Why? Because their skill level far surpasses our own," Shino suggested. No one responded to his statement, or gave any form of acknowledgment.
"I'm going," Neji growled.
"Wait, Neji, that's not a good idea," Ten Ten objected. He whirled around, tense.
"I am a Jounin," he emphasized through gritted teeth. "Just like our senseis. I am the same rank as them. I'm far more skilled than the rest of you, and thus, I have a higher chance of survival than you. This is merely an obstacle course. I can defeat it, and that irritating Inuzuka, easily."
He strode into the building, leaving the rest gaping at him.
Takahiro was the first to recover. "Wait up, you bastard!" he shouted after him. "I'm a Jounin too!"
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari grinned as she leapt from her position, launching herself into a backflip over the projectiles that were being hurled at her from the machines installed throughout the course.
"Hurry up," she called to Kiba, who was behind her by about several meters. "You're going to lose at this rate."
"Just watch! Fastest shinobi of our generation or not, I'm going to beat you!"
"Give it up, my specialization as Special Jounin is my agility and Ninjutsu. You'll never win," she laughed, reaching the end of the Genin obstacle course.
He slumped in defeat as he reached her a few seconds later. "Well, what's my punishment for losing?"
She tilted her head to the right, appreciating the way his muscles flexed as he stretched. She was, after all, fifteen. "Let's go with a piggyback ride, since the theme of today is doing couple-like stuff. But later, not during the obstacle course."
"Sounds good to me. Onward to Chunin level!" He held her hand again as they walked over to the new course.
Hikari smiled slightly as Kiba began swinging their arms and humming a slight tune. Although they weren't actually a couple, it felt nice to imitate other couples.
"Do you need a handicap?" she asked as they arrived at the gate of the next course. "I can start a few seconds later."
"No, I think I can manage just fine," he replied, sauntering closer. The gates opened, but Hikari was distracted by the sensation of a pair of chapped lips on her cheek. She froze, blood rushing up her neck, and Kiba just smiled before leaping into the course.
She stood, petrified, for about half a minute, until she realized what just happened.
That sly bastard!
-O-O-O-O-
Takahiro cursed as Neji pushed off in front of him, kicking dust into his face.
"Damn it, Neji, you need to calm down!"
"I am calm," he said, clearly agitated.
"No, you're not," Takahiro said, leaping over the flying projectiles the same way Hikari had earlier. "There's no reason why you should be so upset, too. Why do you even care?"
"Why do you?" Neji shot back.
"I'm just protective of her," Takahiro admitted. "I promised some people that I'd watch over her. So why are you so upset?"
Neji struggled to find the right answer. "Kiba taking Hikari on a date... it's improper."
Takahiro raised an eyebrow, dubious. "What are we in, the Warring States Era?"
"...I may be attracted to her as well."
Takahiro nodded, a knowing look on his face. "Yeah, I totally sympathize with you- wait, WHAT?"
Neji flushed, looking to the side. "I said that I'm slightly attracted to Hikari."
"So, you have a crush on her is what you're saying? No. No, no, no. Not allowed," Takahiro said, making an X with his arms. He jumped as a metal bar sweeped under his feet.
"Why not? She's her own person, and she can make her own decisions," Neji argued, doing handsprings through a series of pendulums.
"Which is why you're chasing after Kiba and Hikari to stop their date, right? Because that constitutes letting her make her own decision."
"I did let her make it. I just disapprove."
They touched down at the end gate, and walked out in stony silence.
Neji turned to Takahiro with a flick of his hair. "Alright then," he said, challenging Takahiro with a glint in his eyes. "We're both hypocrites. What are you going to do about it?"
They glared at each other, muscles stiffening. Then, Takahiro sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Can we agree to just, I don't know, get along? At least for today," he suggested.
"We're still going to stop the date, right?"
"Of course."
They entered the next course, the Chunin leveled one. Takahiro caught a glimpse of red hair vanishing through the exit on the other end.
"They just finished. If we hurry, we can catch up. Let's go."
They entered the fray, eyes blazing with the fire of determination.
They were prepared for anything and everything, and would do anything and everything to stop the date.
Nothing was going to get in their way.
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari snickered as Takahiro's eyes widened in recognition at one of her seal traps, but it was too late for him and Neji. The seals activated, sending up walls of solid chakra that converged at the top.
Of course, that wouldn't stop them for long, so she had set another seal, to be triggered when the first trap was broken. That seal cast a quadruple layer genjutsu on its victims, and steadily absorbed their chakra. And also drenched them in gallons of sludge.
Kiba held his hand up for a high five. She slapped it hard.
"This is great," he praised, wincing. "Let's hurry before they actually break out." Right as he said that, the chakra walls shattered to pieces, broken by Neji's Jyuuken. She glanced back to see the backlash from the break push Neji's hair away from his face, which was set in a regal frown. He stood tall, body firmly set in a form.
Her heart raced a little faster.
Hikari and Kiba ran away from the curses sounding from Chunin course (she suspected that the second trap had sprung). "Do you actually want to continue with the obstacle course? It's almost time for lunch," Kiba asked.
She thought about it for a few seconds, then decided, "Let's go while we can, and grab something to eat. I'm not that hungry though."
"Ice cream, then!"
They left the building, laughing and chattering over inane things and ignoring the screams of fury that followed them out. They casually snuck past their friends, who were still waiting by the entrance. Hikari was pretty sure that Hinata and Shino knew they were there, but they didn't say anything.
"Here," Kiba said, handing her a cone of strawberry ice cream. She eyed him suspiciously. If that's a joke about my hair color...
"Thanks." They finished their cones with next to no conversation, relishing in the cold sweetness that ice cream brought on a relatively warm day.
When they were done, Kiba suddenly bent down in front of her, presenting her with his back. "I promised, didn't I?"
She began to flush again. "I was just joking about that."
"Oh. That's too bad then, I guess. Too bad for you."
Huh?
"Akamaru!"
The dog yipped in reply, and tackled the back of her legs. She fell onto Kiba's back with a squeak that she would forever deny ever came out of her mouth, and they were off.
Kiba walked towards the training grounds, the closest thing to a park in Konoha. Hikari had no idea what to do with herself. What if she was awkwardly positioned? Was she too stiff? Would relaxing be better? But people got heavier when they relaxed, right? And what was she even supposed to do with her hands? And Kami damn it, she was still blushing. She remained motionless the entire time, afraid of doing anything.
When Kiba finally stopped, she sighed with relief and slid off his back. "Thanks."
Hikari sat on the grass, and pat the seat next to her.
"So, is the date over?" she asked.
"Well, I kinda didn't have anything else planned," Kiba replied, rubbing his head as he plopped down next to her. "Except…"
She glanced at him, surprised. Kiba never hesitated with his words. "What is it?"
"I never gave you a punishment for the Chunin obstacle course, which I needed to do, since I sort of beat you."
She bristled. "You did not beat me. You used unfair tactics to achieve your goal."
"Uh, Hikari? I don't know if you've ever gotten the memo, but we're shinobi. We're supposed to use unfair tactics. That's the entire point of being shinobi." His eyes gleamed with a light that made her shiver.
"I won't be too mean."
Then Kiba was on top of her, his warm weight pressing her back flat against the ground and pinning her in place. His eyes were boring intensely into her own, leaving her breathless, and one of his hands reached up to cup her face. He traced her cheek with his thumb, and Hikari was suddenly very, very aware that an attractive, toned, fifteen year old boy was currently hovering over her with his face so close to hers that their noses were almost touching, and somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was faintly thinking that screw the person she liked, having her first kiss with Kiba wasn't such a bad thing.
At this thought, her arms automatically came up and wrapped around his neck, bringing him several centimeters closer.
"You really are pretty," Kiba whispered, his breath fanning across her lips and causing tingles to travel down her spine as she flushed.
"No, I'm not."
"You're right," he agreed. "I take that back. You're beautiful."
Beautiful. He called her beautiful.
But before Hikari could follow that train of thought, Kiba finally closed the few centimeters between them, and his lips touched hers.
They weren't soft, and there were no fireworks going off. His lips were chapped, rough, and inexperienced, but they were warm, and when he began to move them, she thought that her insides would melt because the kiss was so undeniably sweet and so him, just like the rest of the date had been.
She finally began to respond, tilting her head for a better angle and closing her eyes, relishing in the feeling of his lips against hers, the grass against her back, and his warmth surrounding her. An idea struck her, and she began to open her mouth—
And Kiba's weight was gone.
Her eyes flew open, and she sat up in confusion to see Kiba sprawled on the ground several feet from her, with Neji standing over him.
"What the hell?" Kiba snarled, wiping his mouth of blood.
"What the hell, indeed," Neji shot back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Takahiro appeared at her side. "Are you okay? Did he try anything else with you? Are you hurt?"
He tried to help her up, but she was analyzing the situation (at a speed waaaayyyy below her level. The kiss really fogged up her brain, she guessed).
Neji was in an offensive posture against a fellow Konoha shinobi.
Akamaru was subdued, whimpering.
Takahiro was positioning his body between her and the ensuing confrontation.
And Kiba was on the ground, hurt.
Hurt because of Neji.
Neji hurt Kiba.
Neji hurt another Konoha shinobi with the intent to harm.
Ice crept into her veins.
"How dare you," she seethed, throwing off Takahiro's attempt to help. "How dare you attack another shinobi like this! I am disgusted by both of your behaviors, and insulted that you don't believe in my capability to defend myself! That you don't trust in my judgment of Kiba's character, that you DON'T RESPECT MY DECISION!"
Neji visibly frowned. "Hikari-san—"
"NO!" she shouted. "Do not 'Hikari-san' me! I'm fifteen—"
"And we're sixteen and Jounin," Takahiro interrupted.
"And yet," she said, voice low and eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, "who is it that beats you in every spar? Who is it that makes the decisions during missions? Rank and age mean shit compared to skills and correct judgment! I am perfectly allowed and capable of making my own decisions and suffering whatever consequences there may be. We all are, and were, ever since we were active in the field, ever since we were Genin."
She made her way over to Kiba, purposefully bumping into Neji with her shoulder. She helped Kiba up, and they made their way over to Akamaru. She turned around to shoot Takahiro and Neji a glare that froze them in their tracks.
"I'm not coming over for dinner tonight," she state slowly, addressing Takahiro. "And I don't want to see either of you for a very long time. Goodbye."
-O-O-O-O-
"Sorry," Hikari apologized. She dabbed at Kiba's split lip with a wet cloth, wincing as it trickled more blood.
"Don't worry about it," Kiba said, voice distorted from an effort to not move his lips and disturb her administrations. "I'm just sad that I won't be able to give you a goodbye kiss."
She gave him a light shove. How could he even joke about something like that at this time? Her motions ceased, and she stared at the ground.
Kiba noticed. "Hey, you okay?"
She laughed once, bitterly. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Her eyes came up to make contact for a moment before looking back at the ground, but it was enough to Kiba to know what was wrong.
Hikari was angry (of course she would be; who wouldn't be after what happened?), but beyond that, beyond the anger and disgust and disappointment, she was sad. And, Kiba suspected, she was probably sad because she thought that some of the people she trusted the most weren't the people she thought they were.
Everyone knew how much trust mattered to her.
"Neji and Takahiro aren't bad people," he said suddenly, startling her.
"They hurt you," she replied immediately.
"Well, yeah," he admitted, "I'm upset over that, obviously, but they're good people. They were probably just jealous and overprotective. I mean, if the girl I liked was kissing another guy, I'd punch him too. Or if it was Hinata. Hinata is precious."
Hikari frowned. "I get Takahiro being overprotective, but I don't understand why Neji would be jealous or overprotective. It doesn't make sense."
Kiba stared at her. "You really don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Wow, I thought everyone knew," he mused, rubbing his chin.
"Kiba."
He flinched at her exhausted tone. "Well, Neji likes you. It explains why he was so upset."
-O-O-O-O-
The next day, Hikari woke up to a beautiful morning and an ugly, chaotic mess to face.
She'd gone to bed with tumultuous thought that conflicted with each other. She was angry, undeniably so. But Neji liked her. But that didn't excuse his actions. Or Takahiro's, for that matter.
But the person she liked… it was Neji.
But that was getting emotionally involved, wasn't it? But wasn't she already emotionally involved, since she was angry?
She groaned, burying her face into her pillow. Why was everything so complicated? Why couldn't they all just go back to the days when they kicked the ass of anyone who dared oppose them and threaten the lives of their loved ones and innocent people?
A knock on her apartment door brought her out of her tormented musings. She sensed a chakra signature that she dreaded, and dragged herself out of bed to confront the person standing on the other side of the door.
"I thought I told you I didn't want to see you," she muttered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and leaning against her doorframe.
Hyuuga Neji stood before her, holding a white flower. Asphodel, she took note, for "regret".
"I'm here to apologize," he stated in an infuriatingly calm manner.
"What about Kiba? Did you apologize to him?" she demanded. When she received no response, she said, "I thought so," and closed the door with a click.
The other side of the door was silent for a moment, then Neji said through the wood, "I'll leave this here, then." Hikari waited several moments before opening the door to peek out.
In front of her, the asphodel lay on the ground.
-O-O-O-O-
Every day, he came.
Every day, he brought a flower with a different meaning. A yellow rose, which could mean "jealousy" or "apology". An ornithogalum, for "atonement". A yellow tulip, for "hopeless love". A viscaria, for "invitation".
She began putting the flowers into a vase. They were pretty, and it would be a waste to let them die so quickly. At least, that was what she told herself.
On the fifth day, the day of the pink rose for "grace", she didn't close the door on him, and instead began to walk with him to the training grounds, where their teams often held joint practices. She ended up acknowledging Takahiro, because the training required it.
On the eighth day, the day of the peony for "honor", she witnessed the two of them apologizing to Kiba, who accepted it with a smile and a slap on their backs.
Then one day, the sixteenth day, Neji brought a bouquet of lavender roses and snowdrops, for "love at first sight" and "hope".
"You do know that lavender roses are dyed, and therefore fake, right?" she asked, gently stroking a petal. She refused to look up at him.
"I know, but it's the meaning that counts, right?"
So he's aware of the meanings of each flower.
"Why do you still bring me flowers every day? I forgave you days ago," she asked, still observing the flowers and stroking their petals.
His hand reached up and stilled her fingers. "I think you know why," he said, voice coaxing her to look up. She did, and her breath hitched at what she saw.
On the sixteenth day, for once in his life, Hyuuga Neji's emotions were fully displayed on his face. She saw with fascination as anxiety danced across his face. He was nervous and afraid, but it was what was in his eyes that made Hikari go weak in the knees.
On the sixteenth day, Neji's eyes were earnest and slightly wide and so very much full of hope that Hikari instinctively took a step back, afraid of breaking that hope, before stepping closer when she saw traces of defeat and sorrow begin to appear.
On the sixteenth day, Hyuuga Neji confessed his love to Uzumaki Hikari while holding her hands and his breath, daring to hope.
And on the sixteenth day, the day of lavender roses and snowdrops, Uzumaki Hikari gave her second kiss to Hyuuga Neji.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Here you go, kpopisawesome. I hope you liked it! I tweaked it a little, but tried to keep the main part of your request.
I had a lot of fun writing this, mainly because of how each character would act within the emotion they were supposed to be portraying. Neji is such a dorky tsundere, I love it.
UPDATE ON REACHING: I have writer's block. I'm so sad! Sorry, guys! It'll take a little longer to get another update.
On the other hand, requests are always open, so send them in, everyone! To Strawberry Days, of course. The requests help me find inspiration to write, so more requests may actually end up in an earlier update! Yay!
To reviewers and followers and favoriters: THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL TO DEATH!
See you next time!