The next day Neji woke feeling happy. He found his home and it was not a building but it was a person. A very special person who at the moment was laying next to him. He gently moved a tress of her hair from her cheek. She was perfect, beautiful, kind, generous, and all his. He woke her up with a kiss, she looked at him and smiled.
"Good morning." She whispered.
"Good morning" he replied kissing her once more.
He helped her wash and get dressed having fun at the same time. She was amazed with the change, she never saw him so happy, smiling so often and being so tender to her. Their first night was rather fast and full of anger and despair, but this last night was what she had been dreaming about. This was the Neji she saw in her dreams.
The day was rather peaceful, Neji had to attend to his duties, and Hinata decided to take care of the children while he was working. She got to met Maya Akira's cat, and she walked around the garden with the girls. She was surprised with the girl's knowledge and the source of it, that was Neji. They knew the names of many flowers and they were interested in learning more. She liked spending time with children and these children were very kind and loving, so she got along with them very well. Looking at them she thought about her little son, and she wondered if he would grow up to be such a nice and loving child. Thinking of Neji and his latest change, she couldn't doubt that Hizashi would be an equally good person as his father.
The Kinto adults observed their friend and his relative closely and were a bit disturbed by their sudden closeness. They knew Hinata and Neji were cousins but being loving relatives does not mean behaving like a marriage. They couldn't not notice the similes, the touches and the warmth in their eyes. Lord Ryu decided to talk about it with Neji.
"I see you are very glad of finding your family." He began what seemed an innocent conversation.
"Yes I am, my family is not perfect but having a family is a very important thing to me." Neji replied.
"Your cousin Hinata is a very nice girl, you said your fathers were twin brothers, right?" Lord Ryu wanted to make sure he understood their relation correctly.
"Yes, her father is the head of the clan, and my father was his twin." Replied Neji.
"So your father is dead?" noticed Lord Kinto.
"Yes he was killed many years ago." Neji sadly looked down at the floor.
"It must have been a tragedy for you, do you know who killed him?" Lord Kinto dug further in Neji's past.
"I was a small child then, so yes it hurt me. Who killed him? Hinata's father did, and other relative from the main family…" came a quiet reply.
"What brother would do such a thing?" Kinto demanded "And what's with the main family and branch family thing, and why do you carry that curse mark?"
"My father was sacrificed for the clan. Lord Hisashi is the head of the clan, and his children are the main branch. My father was born second therefore he was placed in the branch family. The role of the branch family is to make sure the main family is safe."
"I see, but that cruse mark?"
"It's a way of controlling us, if we ever oppose the main family we will die." Neji finished his explanation.
"I must admit I am not sure if I like your family at all. I would never hurt any of the children or relatives. And I certainly would not brand my own grandchildren for being born after Akira. What a family." He murmured the last words to himself.
"You love her don't you?" he came straight forward to the topic he was thinking about from the beginning.
"Yes, I loved her all my life." Neji replied.
"Do you know that it's wrong to love a close relative like that?" Lord Kinto shot precisely at the topic.
"Maybe it is, but in our family it is acceptable. What will not be accepted is that she is the Heir and I am from the branch family, that meaning that if she chose to be with me should would be banished to the branch family as well." Neji explained his opinion looking straight forward at Lord Kinto.
"Your family is very strange." Came a brief comment. The conversation was over. Later that day Lord Kinto told their children to stay off the topic, and that nothing could be done as well. If he understood correctly the moment they come back home, they will never be together again. It was sad in a way. Sad that clan rules ruled their life. But maybe that way it would be better.