"I've been vocal about this plenty of times already, I don't understand you, Father. Are we really discussing this again?" The tea had gone cold in Hinata's cup but she supposed the liquid tasted sour in her mouth for a different reason. Hiashi couldn't even bear to look her in the eyes, his gaze kept straying to the edges of the rooms, like he was pleading her to get out.
"It's difficult," he breathed at last, like it pained him to say so when it really didn't. He was just old and illogically attached to traditions.
"It's not difficult at all, Father," Hinata replied, "Neji saved my life, he saved your life as well and Naruto's. Thus saving all of us. There isn't a single soul in this village who doesn't own their life to Neji. A life for a life is a fair exchange, when you branded him he pledged his life to your service. Now give it back."
"I want Neji to be free, but isn't he already? Do I restrict him on where to live? Do I force him on a job he doesn't like? Hell, it's not even proper that he stays at the house of an unmarried woman but I let him anyway!"
Hinata dropped her cup back into the tray, she stood, taking to her father's desk. "He's is already free," Hiashi furthered his point when she spared him a glance over the shoulder. Then she sat, reached for a pen and a paper and she started writing down the draft of a letter.
"You don't get it, Father," she murmured softly, "It's not his freedom that Neji's asking for."
Neji's heart fluttered uneasy as he walked his way to TenTen's house in the countryside. He'd met Shikamaru by chance when he left his clan's compound, and the guy let him in a piece of information. Shikamaru's theory affirmed that Neji's return was a time-space discrepancy occurred to balance out an equivalent event. But what could possibly cause dimensional dissonance in the shape and size of a person? Neji knew. And so did Shikamaru even if he pretended to let Neji guess. TenTen brought something back from the dreamlike dimension she was imprisoned in thirteen years ago. Back then the being was too tiny to disrupt the order of time and space, but now, now he was growing up fast and his blood was a call to the place of origin. Yeah, because Metal couldn't exist in this world since this dimension's Neji didn't live long enough to conceive him with TenTen. But in the other dimension Neji and TenTen never made a kid together. And so by machination of some complex mathematical formulas in addition to a great surge of power granted by the lighting during the storm, Neji was brought back to world of the living. He mostly felt like his old self, but he could see parts of him that merged from a different kind of Neji. The playful instinct at the borders of his consciousness, the urge that rushed through him when he kissed TenTen, these and more were dark corners of his mind still left to discover. The boy Neji left behind when he died would have complained, he would have pained himself over this personal lack. The person Neji returned as however was a man, and it was past time he started acting like one. After all, growth is a journey of self-discovery, and since Neji skipped the past thirteen years, it was only fair that he allowed himself the time to catch up now without faulting himself for it.
He found the dishes in the sink when he arrived, at least TenTen took his advice to rest and didn't bother washing them. Neji gave them a quick lathering and rinse before he headed to the bedroom. TenTen was sitting against the pillows, still attempting to cut down the massive pile of books next to her. She was wearing a pair of reading glasses, since when did she start using them, Neji wondered? They looked good on her, he realized leaning against the door frame, which gave away his presence with an awful groan.
Upon noticing him TenTen immediately took off her spectacles and put them away with the book. "Neji," she prompted, "You've been out all this time. I didn't even know if you were coming for dinner or not."
"I'm sorry," he made his way to the side of the bed where she lay and sat on the edge, "I had a few things to do."
"Metal came home crying today, what happened? What did you do?"
Neji scoffed, rubbing his palms over his knees, "What did I do? I only helped him deal with some bullies and then I told him he should listen to his father. And he freaked out."
TenTen grasped his hands, if only to make him stop his nerve-relieving motion, "You just came into his life, Neji. You can't expect him to accept you overnight."
Neji raised an eyebrow and stared at her, "He said I should be dead."
TenTen looked away, her chest heaved a sigh and the corners of her mouth dropped down like hope inside her had suddenly evaporated, "Please, forgive him. I'm sure he didn't mean it -"
Neji's hands encompassed her smaller ones, "TenTen. It doesn't matter what he meant, I'm not angry."
TenTen blinked, "You're not?"
Neji shook his head, "I am renouncing my clan affiliations. In other words, I'm giving up my last name and every right I had as a Hyuga. I went to my uncle today and begged him to remove my sigil but he probably won't oblige, which means I'll want out of the clan. That way my uncle will have no choice but to remove all of my powers and my sigil with them."
TenTen's fingers trembled as the landed on his cheek, barely grazing the surface and yet just that small touch was enough to send Neji's skin to flames. Her lips quivered, and Neji reached out to steady them with the tip of his thumb. TenTen was staring at him with wide eyes, trying to make sense of his words, "Neji, but why?"
He let his thumb travel down the edge of her jaw, feeling the way it transitioned to the smooth of her neck, into the line of her collarbone – man, did he love this woman! - "Because it's the only way I have to protect my son from bearing the mark as well. That branding has to be passed down from one generation to the next but only as long as there's a connection to the clan. It would be illegal to brand someone who isn't connected to the family."
TenTen shook her head, "You're still blood of their blood."
Neji took her wandering fingers and kissed them, "Luckily it's not about the blood, it's about the name. If I refuse it, my children won't bear it either, they'll be like strangers to the clan. My uncle won't be able to touch Metal."
"And they'll just…let you leave?"
"It's my right, as any other member's. Although it's an unpopular choice because when you give up the name you lose any right to the family wealth, access to the compound, decisions inside the clan."
TenTen gave a snort and started laughing, "So you'll just be like a normal person?"
Neji shrugged, his lips stretched into a smirk, "As normal as I can be."
And then they were hugging, and at some point they were kissing too. TenTen's hands tugged the opening of his kimono loose, Neji hooked one arm in the bend of her knee and lowered them against the mattress. TenTen arched awkwardly to lie over the books that still littered her bed, jabbing their corners into her bones. Neji scoffed, "This is going to get uncomfortable," he said, trying to clear out some of them.
"It can't be more uncomfortable than a wall," she replied.
He smiled, his fingers deft and slow, worked the buttons of her nightgown. TenTen's cheeks turned a deep blush color. "You know," she told him when he bent down to kiss the hollow of her neck, "I never made love to anyone except you from that time."
Neji discarded his kimono and fully climbed on the bed, "Neither did I." He stretched above her, his hips gently brushed hers, "I'll make it worth the wait," he breathed against her mouth.
Her teeth caught his lower lip and pulled it, arms enclosed around his neck, her voice was a mere whisper, "Go ahead then."
He did, and neither of them spoke for quite some time.
