Author's Note: Set of drabbles, now branching out a bit more than just Neji and Hinata..
Theme Set: Alpha 3/5
021. Lust
When Itachi sees her again, he recognizes her but almost can't believe that it is she. She hasn't changed much from when she was younger, though she had grown physically filling in her in curves; a soft lush bust, the firm span of her waist, silky length of her hair, long stretch of her legs, and her body makes him burn. But it is the soft, tender intensity that she had always given off that made him instantly acknowledge her. She still makes him wish for a better world where things could have been possible; time has just added another ache.
022. If, only if
She laughs at his words. She smiles in his presence. She wraps her arms around his. She curls up into his embrace. She walks unburdened next to him. She looks ahead with bright glowing eyes. She stands tall with straight shoulders. She reaches for his hand. She leans into his touch. She parts her lips under his. She turns to greet him hello. She looks up to wish him 'welcome home'. She shines only for him.
023. Change
Five years down the road, Hiashi looked up and saw how things really were. Hinata walks soft but sure as Neji follows silently a foot behind, Hanabi is worn and jaded from loneliess but not knowing it, Uchiha Sasuke has run away from the village only to come back a month ago, Uzumaki Naruto is two weeks off from being passed the title of the Hokage, and his clan avoids looking into his eyes instead they carefully watch his oldest daughter and his nephew for something he only has an inking of.
He remembers when he used to pick Hinata up and throw her in the air jovially, and when her tiny hands used to clench at his kimono cloth shyly as she stared out at her cousin and uncle. Now when he speaks to her in the hallways she stands behind Neji as he hides her with his body, as if to protect her, and her small hands fist gently at his nephew's sleeves. When she used to look into his eyes happily, now she stares back pensive and shy. Her eyes used to shine with her love for him, and the love is still there, but it is weighed down and burdened with years of responsibility, grief, and pain.
Hiashi used to be the most important man in Hinata's life, but now Neji stands next to her and his nephew refuses to give up the place to anyone else.
024. Is this really love?
Ten Ten waits for him at the end of the training. She waits for him outside the Tower when he comes back from a mission. She smiles and laughs at his rigid ways. He grins warily at her antics. They are long time comrades who over time are now long time partners. They go to a movie or dinner once a week. They train together when ever they find the time. She makes him bentos for the long days and he buys her flowers for special occasions.
They eat, sleep, and train together. Her family likes him well enough, his mother finds her very nice. Their friends think the two of them are good match, his clan believes she will be an acceptable candidate. They've settled well into their relationship and they are content.
But there is a yearning inside of him that hasn't stopped.
025. Skilled hands
Neji is improving everyday, learning deeper and seeing further with the ways of the Hyuuga Bloodline. His steps are sure and balanced, and he gives no quarter without inflicting some damage.
Hiashi steps back and dodges the palms that head towards them, then blocks the fingertips that aim for fine spots he has never seen. He aims and lands a soft palm on his nephew's shoulder, but off the mark as the boy dodges at the last moment. Sweat drips off the both of them and Hiashi ponders that another hour would the most the two of them could last.
Hinata sits on the wooden boards off to the side and performs the tea ceremony to no one and allowing the tea to cool slowly in the spring air. Hiashi turns with bittersweet pride as he evades another of Neji's unusually fierce attacks today. Neji is growing still, and Hiashi now dodges palms more than he lands; yet Hinata is still far from where she should be.
An hour later, the sparring is halted and Hiashi sits down to taste the tea and watches his nephew with wondering eyes as Neji pulls off his sweat soaked shirt to have the blushing Hinata attend to his wounds with the bandages and ointment jars held gently in her frail hands.
026. The way things are
Hiashi is half of a whole. The Elder Council argues with Tsunade about her gambling ways. Hanabi wants to be strong enough to protect her loved ones. Kakashi stands and loses himself in his memories in front of the stone tablet at dawn and dusk. The Lady Hyuuga is bitter about being treated as a pawn. Iruka is slowly raising the new generation of ninjas to be human rather than a weapon. The Hyuuga Clan is tense with the notion there might be a revolution. Naruto stands to become Hokage in another three to five years as the youngest to receive the title. The could-have-been Lady Hyuuga is melancholy, missing her much loved deceased husband and proud of how her son has grown. Sasuke has walked away from all his responsibilities to have his vengeance. Neji follows his cousin like a shadow. The Aburame Clan is quietly gaining in power. Hinata is bent but not broken. Konoha is growing.
027. Cry
She never does cry. She trips, stammers, blushes, and shies away but she never cries. She ducks her head, looks away, never meets anyone's eyes, flinches at the lightest touch, bits her lips, and bows her body as if she's constantly under attack but she never cries.
While Sakura tears overflow when Sasuke walks away, while Naruto gains a runny nose and itchy red eyes the day after when someone new acknowledges him, later down the line while Ten Ten bursts into tears when she and Neji doesn't work out, when Sasuke heaves for air in defiance of the salty water trails on his face, and when Hanabi screams in denial as her heart is broken for the first time as her special one is taken down in a mission - she is stable.
She whispers and doesn't shout. She walks soft and light. She slips past people with drawn in shoulders. She stammers and shies away from contact. She is quiet and tender and others start to notice she unbelievably strong in the face of life's tragedies. Naruto hates crying because he knows it will get him nowhere, she has stopped altogether.
Years down the line while Neji tries to move her heart (he has yet to realize he always has), he will need to understand she has stopped crying not because she is numb but because there is no longer a tragedy that can break her; haven't been for a long time.
028. Hope/Wish
The shooting star flashes briefly in the sky before dying out. A young girl training in the courtyard looks up and looks away frowning, telling herself she doesn't believe in such fairytales and pushes down the urge to make a wish. A young man walking down the open hallways sees the star and continues moving, not believing in such things and also not believing he is worthy of such things. A young woman sitting on the wooden boards to the family garden smiles and offers a prayer.
029. Wrong Wrong Wrong
This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as she accepts the mantle of the Hyuuga name. This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as she bows to her Elders and waits for the ceremony to finish. This is wrong, she thinks as she sees Hinata and Neji watching from the sidelines with the villagers and not part of the Hyuuga sect. The two of them have abandoned the Hyuuga name.
This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as her body straightens in preparation for a bow. Hinata and Neji are smiling gently in her direction but they standing next to each other, and she stands alone.
030. Naked
" So, err..." Naruto scratched the back of his head with the free hand, the other holding onto the knot of his towel at his waist. He was way too tired and it was way too late for this. " I thought this was the men's pool." He said as Hinata sunk deeper into the hot spring flushed.
" It's co-ed." Neji clipped from in front of her.
Naruto blinked. " Oh, cool." And slipped into the hot water.
Hinata shrunk herself behind Neji's back and tried to bury her trembling self into him. Neji stood tall and stiff, allowing her to use him as a shield.
" Um, not to be rude or anything, and not that I have any experience." Naruto started as he relaxed in the water. " But I thought people outgrew the bathing-with-family thing after a certain age."
. : TBC : .