Hinata, just post Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

.

.

"Hinata-sama," Neji said quietly over breakfast. "Are you available for sparring? I would be interested in a demonstration of your technique."

Hinata flushed red as the weight of many gazes fell on her and fought not to fidget. Meals in the Hyuuga household were usually eaten in heavy silence. "I-" she stammered. "Of course, Neji-niisan."

She felt the disapproval in the air, though not one expression changed and ducked her head. Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry at all.

Stomach tied in knots, she followed Neji out into the practice yard located behind the main house. Her neck prickled with the knowledge that everyone was watching her, even as the shoji door slid closed behind her. In the house of the Hyuuga, one did not need to be present to be observed.

She swallowed, remembering the last time she and Neji had fought. "What did you want to do?"

"The technique that was mentioned at the briefing," Neji clarified. "Show me."

Hinata hunched her shoulders forward, unconsciously tapping her fingers together. "I-" she hesitated. She felt self-conscious under his intense stare, and doubt surged. Could she even do it again?

But… she didn't want to let him down. Neji-niisan had never asked her to train before, had never extended this hand of friendship to her. She wouldn't waste it.

"Hai." She nodded, stepping into the centre of the arena and steeled herself. Under the activated eye of her Byakugan, the world crystallised into focus. She would never have the depth of vision that Neji did, might not ever see tenketsu, but she had distance. She could see her father and Hanabi in the room behind them, several other members of the family still sitting at the table, could see them watching her. She could see through to the other side of the compound, the branch family women hanging washing on a line. She could see people, ninja and civilian, walking the streets of Konoha.

Sometimes, Hinata thought, it was no surprise she felt so very small when the world around her was so large. How could someone such as her affect all of that? And yet… people could.

Like Naruto.

I never give up. That's my way of the ninja!

And Hinata thought back, to what it had been like to use this technique, to know that she was all that stood in the way of her friends, her teammates and death.

"Protection," she incanted softly. "Of the Eight Trigrams; Sixty Four Palms."

Blue streamers trailed from her fingers, bending and flexing around her. She twisted, reaching and stretching, creating a space of safety.

Neji observed coolly.

"Again. I will attack," Neji said, sinking into a fighting stance.

"No," Hinata said, surprised at the certainty in her own voice. "This is not an attack I will use on you." She swallowed. "Use kunai if you must test it."

She could hardly believe her own daring, to say that to him.

"Very well," Neji acquiesced. "Be ready."

There was no warning in his movements, but Hinata was ready as the set of kunai flew at her, arms dancing through their pattern once more.

The kunai hit and were flung back, deep gouges scratched into their metal surface.

Hinata flushed and felt like apologising.

"Again," Neji repeated.

This time he circled her, emptying his kunai pouch as he went.

Again, Hinata created her protection.

He's aiming for the gaps in the lattice, she observed, watching the trajectory of each of his throws. Only twice had he seen the attack, and already he was searching for weakness.

But you won't find it there, she thought. Because, in weaving the net, chakra had trailed from her hand, giving it direction and motion. And each adjacent stripe was created to be in the opposite direction of the one beside it; the chakra between the two pushing and scraping invisibly against each other, like waves lapping at each other. Each hole in the matrix, therefore, had four different movements; forwards and backwards, left and right, all swirling together. The stripes of the net were dangerous, but it was the seeming weak spot that was the most dangerous. Anything that tried to penetrate there would be destroyed.

"Hah!" She finished, pushing outwards, and all the material caught in the net exploded out. Neji dodged his returned kunai – and shrapnel – with ease.

"Impressive," he noted, eyes visibly on the scattered metal.

Then the shogi door slid open, and Hinata dropped her arms in mortification. There was an unspoken distaste of using weapons in the clan compound – it was unrefined, it was not Jyuuken – and more than that, she had damaged the walls.

"Father!" she blurted out, bowing hurriedly. "I-"

She didn't want him to be angry at her, not so soon after he had told her he was disappointed in her 'reckless and foolish actions'.

Father was worried, Hanabi's voice echoed in her head, but although she had the same sharp eyes as Neji – able to pick up the most minute twitch and facial expression – Hinata doubted her words.

"Tomorrow," Hiashi said, voice strangely contemplative. "I think you will return to training with Hanabi and I."