Neji paced worriedly back and forth in the hall outside of his cousin's rooms. Hanabi had finally fallen asleep, and he had made Hinata comfortable in her own bed, not waking her as he silently tiptoed out the door. Neji knew this was going to be a long, sleepless night, followed by something very bad. And when Neji was worried, he talked to Tenten.

"Neji, I think you should just let it cool down. I mean, if she doesn't want to talk about, she probably will one day. It's not your fault." "But I left her alone with him! I didn't check the time and he almost," A quiet sigh was heard on the other side of the phone. "Neji-kun, do you want me to come over and talk to you about this?"A pause. "Yes. But don't ring the door bell, I'll be watching for you." A click as the other end of the phone call was stopped, and Tenten rubbed her eyes, and forced herself to swing her legs over the side of the bed.

It will always freak Tenten out when she goes up to the Hyuuga household, and the door swings open in her face. She jumped a little, but otherwise ignored it as Neji ushered her inside. He walked over to the couch and sat down, putting his head in his hands. Tenten walked over and sat beside him. "Neji, like I said before, it's not your fault." The Hyuuga pushed a lock of brown hair out of his face. "I couldn't do anything. And he almost.." He rested against the back of the couch. Tenten had never seen him this upset. " Neji, let it cool down. Go about things as normal, be considerate, don't mention Naruto." "I'm going to kill him next time I see that bastard." "Neji, don't be rash. You'll be put in prison if you lay a hand on him. He is the Hokage, you know." Neji cursed under his breath. "But I could win. I've been training extra hard with Lee, I've always been able to win…"

Tenten put her hand on his. "Listen to me. Hinata needs time to heal herself. Don't try to talk to her about it, just pretend it never happened. After a week, I'll have a talk with her, chances are she'll probably open up to me rather than you." "But I'm her cousin." "But I'm her friend." "But I'm her cousin!" "But I'm a girl!" Neji looked away from his friend. She had a point there. They sat in silence for a bit. "What do I do now?" "Well, getting a bit of sleep would help. You look like crap." Tenten smiled and Neji grunted. The weapons master slowly turned and walked over to the door. "Well, I guess I'll be going now." Neji walked over to her, grabbing her arm."No, wait. Can I, um, make you some coffee?" "I would love some coffee."

A few hours later, the sunrise was just beginning to show as the two friends reminisced of their old days in a team. They talked quietly and laughed at all the funny things that used to happen regularly. Tenten was happy Neji wasn't thinking about his cousin, and that she could take his mind off of it. Glancing over at the clock, Tenten realized she had been over for three hours now. She hated to leave, but, "Neji, I have to go. I didn't realize how late it was. Try to get some sleep yourself, okay?" "I guess." The two friends hugged and Neji walked his guest to the door, watching her walk away for a few minutes.

Neji blinked slowly, sitting himself up wherever he was. Turns out, he had fallen asleep on the couch. He looked around to see Hanabi sitting next to him with a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons. "You're too old to do that, you know. You should be training." The younger Hyuuga scowled, never turning away from the screen. "It's Saturday, I can do whatever I want." Neji sighed and stood up. "Clean up after yourself." She nodded and he dragged himself upstairs, stopping at Hinata's room. He felt his heart skip a beat when he thought about last night. "Maybe I'll check on her." Her whispered quietly to himself before propping the door open just a little.

Hinata was sitting upright on the side of her bed, wearing her nightgown and comfy bunny slippers. She looked at the door quickly when she heard it open. She settled down when she saw who was opening it. "Neji-nii-san…" Neji stepped in her room. "I'm sorry if I woke you, Hinata-sama." She shook her head and patted beside her, indicating that Neji could sit. He did, and they sat in silence for a while, until Neji broke it. "Are you alright, Hinata-sama?" She stiffened and nodded slightly. "T-Thanks to you." Neji turned to her, only to catch her looking at him too. "It's my job, I have to protect you." "Oh." And then they fell back into silence. "I would've done it even it wasn't my job, though."

This time it was Hinata's turn to look over at her older cousin. She smiled and rested her head on Neji's shoulder. Neji noticed how nice she smelled; like violets. They stayed like this for a while, Hinata leaning on his shoulder, and Neji's arm wrapped around her. "W-What do I do now, Neji-nii-san?" Neji looked over at her. "Don' talk to him." Her face changed from happy to upset at the very mention. "D-Don't talk to N-Naruto?" Neji was glad that she had dropped the –kun. "No, don't talk to him. Hinata, he.." He looked at his cousin, choosing his words carefully so as to not upset her more than needed. "Naruto need some time to, uh, think."

Neji inwardly cursed at himself for not being very good at giving advice, or showing compassion. 'I should work on that.' "To think about what, Neji-nii-san?" "Well, what I meant was, you need to stay away from him for a while." Hinata's eyes became watery, causing Neji's fears to come true when a tear slid down her cheek. "W-Why not?" 'Because he's a pervert, an idiot, he doesn't love you, he doesn't deserve you, he only loves you for your body, and he would use you and then dump you!' Neji couldn't say anything he was thinking because chances were, she would never talk to him ever again. So instead, he just pulled her into a tight hug, which she returned. Leaning in close to her, he whispered, 'You deserve better.' Hinata didn't reply, but

Neji didn't want to leave this place, how comfortable and right this felt, but he would have to, because in the next moment, a voice rang around d the room. "Neji, what are you doing to my daughter!" The two stiffened and looked at the man in the doorway. Hanabi stepped in behind him. "Oh my god, they're in trouble, aren't they?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, so this is the fourth intallment of the triology. R&R and I'll update faster. BTW. I'm now taking pairing suggestions, GO.