Hyuuga Neji stared, blinked, and stared some more. What on earth had possessed him to allow Hinata-sama's girl friends to dress her for her birthday party? What was a mischievous number? Six? The six-tail, then. That was probably it. He would never, ever allow this otherwise. And over his dead body was it going to continue. He stepped forward to put an end to it, but amid the low lights and pounding music stood Hinata-sama's unseen sensei, Kurenai. As he stepped forward so did she, and in a second she had pinned him to an invisible wall of chakra. With an amused smirk she shook her head and whispered, "Sorry, Hyuuga, Hinata's low confidence will be boosted by this. And you must admit, she looks hot."
He growled. "Of course she does, when does she not?" He spat. "Look at her! That moron Kiba is flirting shamelessly, that jerk Shino is staring, as is Naruto when he isn't making out with Sasuke, and just about every other male here! For god's sake, even Gaara is watching! Gaara!"
Kurenai was shocked, but a discreet glance told her that what he said was true; so to hide her shock that Gaara of all people was also staring, she chuckled. She hadn't expected the plan to work this well! "Of course they are! Who wouldn't be watching sweet, shy Hinata in that particular outfit?" She gestured to the navy spaghetti-strapped tank top, matching mini skirt, (and she did mean mini) tight navy choker and navy heels that were currently being, ahem, mentally removed by every male in the room.
"Exactly! She's Hinata-sama, dammit! I'm supposed to stop things like this! I'm supposed to protect her from evil horny teenage boys who better stop looking down her shirt!" He yelled the last bit at an unsuspecting Kiba who simply ignored him. He knew that Kiba had heard, though, because he had done his research on both of Hinata-sama's team mates and knew about the Inuzuki clan's improved sense of hearing and smell. But that was not the point. The point was that he needed to go over there and cover her with something while he beat the crap out of all the guys grouped around her. He struggled against Kurenai. She just shook her head and stepped away, but not before binding him with a handy little jutsu to keep him stuck on her chakra wall. Of course not. Why would she do something as nice as not binding him against a wall?
One day, he was going to hurt that red eyed woman. Hurt her bad.
XxXxXTwo Days Ago at the Hyuuga ManorXxXxX
Neji was leaning on the rail of the bridge in the garden. He turned when he heard someone call his name.
"Neji-niisan?"
"Yes, Hinata-sama?"
She walked over to him and leaned against the rail a foot away from him. He watched her as she sighed and stared out at the beautiful pond they were currently standing over.
"You know it's my birthday tomorrow, right?"
"Of course, I would not forget your birthday, Hinata-sama. With all the preparations, it would be hard to forget even on purpose." He smirked and she gave a sweet laugh, tinkling like a bell. She was so much happier now that her father had decided to loosen up and go back to being a father sometimes (and uncle to him) instead of clan leader 24/7. She had lost that ridiculous stutter and annoying bad habits like poking her index fingers together. Her midnight blue hair had grown long; it now reached the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her milky eyes had lost their constant hesitant look. She was pretty now, but not exactly beautiful.
"True. Anyway, I was wondering if…well, you remember that I'm having two parties, a family one and a friend one?" Neji suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yes, Hinata-sama, I remember. Get to the point, please." Of course he remembered the task of getting Hiashi-sama to agree to the second party. It had required a lot of pleading on Hinata-sama's part, but she eventually wore him down. It had amazed Neji to no end when she had come out of the meeting room with an uncharacteristic smirk gracing her pale features and a thumbs-up for him. He had not believed that she would get her way, let alone so quickly. She had barely been in there for fifteen minutes.
"Well, I'm going to Sakura's house to get ready. It'll be Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Kurenai, and I. Okay with you?"
"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" He asked, genuinely confused. Was that all?
She smiled impishly, sang, "No reason! See you later, Neji-niisan!" and skipped off, leaving him more confused than ever.
XxXxXPresent Day at the PartyXxXxX
Well, now he knew. And dammit, he was fucking PISSED OFF! He growled slightly as he watched Kiba 'accidentally' bump into Hinata-sama's chest. Oh, just you wait, Dog-boy. I'll get you for this. You won't be fit to…to…do that weird pee/spinning thing with your mutt when I'm through with you! Just you wait!
For the next few minutes he contemplated how to torture people from the party while he watched what they were doing, sneaking a glance at Hinata-sama every few seconds. Naruto—currently making out with Sasuke on one of the many couches. He shuddered. Enough said—time to look away if he didn't want to be scared for life. Tenten—talking to Lee about her new Kunai set. Hinata-sama had mentioned her when she had talked about getting ready, hadn't she? He had thought that Tenten and Kurenai would have been enough to stop anything bad from happening to Hinata-sama. Apparently, he had been dead wrong. He added both women to his torture-for-not-looking-after-Hinata-sama list.
Ino was having a very animated, one-sided conversation with Shikamaru, who looked very bored, but when she finally shut up he kissed her on the cheek and she blushed ever-so-lightly. If Neji hadn't activated his Byakugan, he wouldn't have seen the small exchange. Well, he thought, someone's been enjoying themselves lately. I wonder how long they've been together? He was so absorbed in minor gossip details that Neji forgot to add Ino to his torture-for-not-looking-after-Hinata-sama list before he moved on.
Kakashi was talking to Sakura, or at least that's what they were doing at first glance. Thanks to his kekkei genkai, Neji knew they were actually making out. Ugh. Didn't anyone think of anything but snogging these days? Once again he failed to add a culprit to his list, though this time it was because of disgust.
Asuma and Gai-sensei were sitting on a couch facing away from the ones currently occupied by the three kissing couples. They were very drunk and seemed to be debating something entirely worthless. The Hokage was watching them amusedly, Jiraiya following her around like some sort of sick puppy. He shuddered. Eww. Just, eww. Old perverted men following old women who looked young with inhumanly large breasts…ick. He turned away, just in time to see a head of blood colored hair before it bobbed out of sight. Gaara. The Kazekage had stayed away from the sake, so he was sober and having an intelligent conversation with one of his escort sand-nins and his siblings. He had only glanced at Hinata-sama a couple of times, but that was a couple of times too many in Neji's book. He added the ninja to his list, though Gaara did not get a position as high on his list as Tenten, Kurenai, Kiba, and Shino. Gaara turned his light green eyes on Neji, and smiled a soft, knowing smile. He excused himself from his discussion and waltzed over to where Neji appeared to be leaning against a wall. He leaned casually against said wall and, very pointedly not looking at the furious Hyuuga, whispered, "Was it Kurenai-san?"
Neji glanced at him and then replied softly, "Yeah."
Gaara chuckled and asked; "Were you going to protect Hinata-san?"
Neji glowered. "Yes."
Gaara faced him and Neji was surprised to see concern on his stoic face. "Why do you want to protect her so much? She can handle herself just fine, you know. Or haven't you realized that all of Kiba-san's attempts to grope her are failing, and he hasn't drunken a drop of sake?"
"He has no business groping her!"
"No, he doesn't. However, so far he has not succeeded once, and all thanks to a certain birthday girl."
"Hmph."
Gaara sighed. "Neji-san, listen. I'll let you go on two conditions. One: you will not storm over there and beat up any of Hinata-san's suitors. Two, you will agree to play a few party games with everyone. In return, I'll free you and we'll stop Hinata-san's molesters. Deal?" Neji thought about this for a second before smiling slightly at the redhead and nodding.
"Yeah, okay."
XxXxXA Few Minutes Later at the 'Hina-chan' CornerXxXxX
Hinata was getting tired of Kiba-kun's and other's attempts to feel her up. Or down for that matter, they didn't appear to be too picky. She sighed and waved away another attempt to pinch her butt. She needed to get out of here, now. Where was Neji when she needed him?
Deep down, she knew that was really unfair; Neji was always there for her. Ever since the chunin exams, they had had a stable friendship. She cared for him, and he protected her. However, she also knew that she loved him as more than a friend or family member. She had known since she had stopped liking Naruto, more than five years ago. She just wished Neji didn't know. If he ever found out, she had no idea what she would do, but suicide was certainly not at the bottom of the list. It had never occurred to her that committing suicide would not be the smartest move if he found out and loved her back.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Surprised that whoever it was was not trying to cope a feel, she turned. Temari. Ah. That explained a lot.
"Hinata-chan, would you like to play some games with us?" Inquired the blond sand ninja, gesturing to a group of people including Gaara, Kankuro, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and the Hokage. (Jiraiya was unconscious on a couch having gotten a little too possessive of a certain blond Godaime)
"Sure." Replied Hinata in a loud voice. Softly she added, "Anything to get me away from these idiots."
"Aww, Hina-chan—"
"I'll see you later, Kiba-san." She interjected before swiftly walking over to Temari.
He stood there stunned for a few seconds, then shrugged and went to hit on a certain dark haired, sunglass wearing bug ninja. Operation Get-Hinata-to-confess-to-Neji was well underway, and his part had been a complete success. He would apologize for creeping her out and groping her later.
XxXxXNavy Chapter 1 EndXxXxX
Hello! Masterday here! Did you like it? Hm? Did you? Review please!
By the way, this is my first fanfic. Could you tell?
Anyway, I like Kiba, Jiraiya, Sakura and all the others. No disrespect meant to anyone.