The morning after Suna's invasion, Neji wakes up with a sore body. It's to be expected, he supposes, after fighting so many jōnin ninjas. Even for a dying village, Suna's shinobi are strong.
Konoha won though. So why does something feel amiss?
Frowning, Neji runs a countdown of the people he cares for. He knows Tenten is okay, he was with her all of last night; so are Lee and Gai-sensei. His team is alright, so what's with this nagging feeling that someone is in danger, about to be kidnapped or wo—
Lady Hinata.
For a while, Neji stares blankly at the ceiling of his room. Lady Hinata was in danger; so what? Why should he care? If she's too weak to defend herself, then Neji has no reason to—
"Hinata's been suffering as much as you!"
"I hope that you can understand my reasons one day, son."
Neji practically jumps out of his bed — something he would vehemently deny if ever asked — and runs to his door. He yanks it open, and freezes at the sight in front of him.
Lady Hinata is there, shrinking away from him as her gaze drops to the floor. Her arms, one of which had been half-raised to knock on the door, are wrapped around her defensively.
Out of habit, a scathing comment rests on the tip of his tongue —"I see you've deigned to grace the branch family with your presence,princess."— and Neji has to swallow it back.
He's still unsure on how he feels about his family, but he can't quite bring himself to hate them anymore, not now that he knows his father's death had been his own choice, and none of them, least of all Lady Hinata, had anything to do with it.
A soft, unintelligible sound from her has Neji's focus shifting back to her, and Lady Hinata shrinks back even more, any pitiful amount of confidence she must have gathered leaving her instantly. Her hand flies to her mouth in a nervous habit, hiding the way she is chewing her lower lip.
Neji raises an eyebrow. Even for her, this behaviour is unusual. It goes beyond her normal timidity; it's almost like fear, though fear of what, Neji is unsure.
Her posture is familiar though, and Neji racks his brain for the right memory. And then, it clicks. The chūnin exams, when Neji had tormented her mere moments before their fight. It's not as bad now, though, but the memory leaves a bitter taste in Neji's mouth.
He opens his mouth to say something, though he's not sure what, but the words die on his lips when Lady Hinata flinches again. She is trembling like a leaf now, and her shoulders hitch with shallow breaths. Suddenly, it clicks.
Neji wants to hit himself. How could he forget? He had tried to kill her, and almost succeeded. He can't exactly fault her for her fear; even Neji himself is unsure if she would still be here had he not been physically restrained from his final blow.
They stand like that for a while — Lady Hinata like a cornered rabbit and Neji frozen in front of her — both unsure of what to do.
He tries to think of something to say, but he is spared the effort by the sound of footsteps echoing in the empty — suspiciously empty, now that Neji thinks about it — hallway.
Lady Hinata shrinks into herself even more, but this time, she shuffles closer to Neji, and he has to wonder who she's so afraid of that she'd rather be close to the person who had tried to kill her not even a month ago.
"Neji."
Neji turns to the newcomer, frowning a bit when he finds Lord Hiashi looking at him. He does his best to keep the confusion off of his face — as stern as Lord Hiashi is, surely Lady Hinata has no reason to fear him. Right?
"There's something I wish to discuss with you. Come."
Lord Hiashi turns and leaves, not even sparing Lady Hinata a glance, who deflates at the cold treatment. Neji frowns and thinks of something to say, but even he can begrudgingly admit that he's not the best at comforting people — or even talking to them — especially his family.
Biting her lower lip, Lady Hinata bows and stammers a hurried farewell before practically fleeing the scene, leaving Neji to stare after her. Yesterday, he would have felt nothing but vindication at everything that has just transpired. Today, though, all Neji can feel is guilt and pity.
As he turns to follow Lord Hiashi, his eyes catch sight of an abandoned tray of breakfast, set into a side so that no one would crash into it accidentally.
Sighing, Neji spares a moment to take the tray in his room, feeling a bit nauseated as he remembers how much he had ridiculed Lady Hinata for being kind.
Neji forces himself to not fold under his uncle's stare, and, with great difficulty, he meets those unflinching eyes. Lord Hiashi's stolidity is unnerving; Neji can never tell what he is thinking.
Very unlike the acrid whispers from the clan elders. Lord Hiashi silences them all with a single look though, and while Neji is grateful, a small part of him sours simply out of habit.
"Neji," Lord Hiashi says. "From now on, I will leave Hanabi's training in your hands. Do not disappoint me." He levels the crowd around them with a warning glare, daring them to speak up.
Wisely, they all keep silent.
Neji bows his head in acquiescence. Come to think of it, he doesn't know much about Lady Hanabi, only that she's six and the complete opposite of her sister. Despite their similar personalities though, he'd never paid much attention to her other than the hatred he had for every main family member.
On one hand, she has less reason to hate him than Lady Hinata. On the other hand, he is suddenly starting to realise that, until yesterday, he pretty much resented a six year old solely for being born.
Lady Hanabi is skilled for her age, a prodigy even. Neji has a feeling that the thought would have made him bitter before, but now, he's just glad that she's willing to listen to whatever criticism he might have of her. She seems to expect it, even, if the way her eyes always travel over to Neji whenever she performs a move is any indication.
"You're stretching your foot too much," Neji says, watching as she immediately corrects her stance. "It makes dodging a fast attack harder. The Gentle Fist is a technique that involves constant movement. You have to be faster and more flexible."
Lady Hanabi doesn't react to his statement beyond a curt nod and furrowed eyebrows. Her eyes shine with determination, and Neji is reminded of her sister's eyes during their fight. Unlike Lady Hinata, Lady Hanabi has no hesitation in her movements, only determination and a tad frustration at how difficult the move is.
The door to the training ground opens, and both Neji and Lady Hanabi turn to the newcomer.
Lady Hinata shrinks under their combined states. "S–Sorry. I was… I was just passing through."
She says that but when they turn back to their training, Lady Hinata doesn't leave. Lady Hanabi doesn't comment, but she is gripping her kunai tighter than before, and Neji wonders for a moment if their relationship is as strained as Lady Hinata and Lord Hiashi's.
"You can join us, if you wish," Neji says, dodging Lady Hanabi's fingers and jabbing a chakra point on her arm.
From the corners of his eyes, he sees Lady Hinata jump. "I, uh… I–I'm not—"
He tries to say something, but Lady Hinata practically flees before the words can leave his mouth. Which might be a good thing considering that Neji has no idea what he might have said, but all he can feel is disappointment.
She shows up again the next day, and the next, and Neji always tries to invite her to no avail. Lady Hanabi always remains strangely silent whenever it happens. That is, until she doesn't.
"You can spar with us," Lady Hanabi finally says, staring intently at her sister. Her voice is flat, but her eyes are sharp, just like they always are whenever she's trying to understand something. Neji wonders how much she knows about her sister; he hasn't seen them interact at all before, but it seems that he hasn't seen a lot of things before. "I won't tell."
What she means by that, Neji has no clue, but he can make a few guesses, each situation uglier than the last. He knows that Lady Hinata has been forbidden from training with her sister — she had, after all, been disinherited for not wanting to hurt Lady Hanabi in a fight and in the Hyūga clan, unwillingness to fight is a weakness — due to her status in the clan as the failed first draft. However, Neji has no idea what kind of punishment she might receive for breaking that rule, or who would even have the gall to punish their clan leader's daughter.
Punishment for the branch family had always been the cursed seal, but he knows that no matter what, Lord Hiashi's would never agree to branding his own daughter. At least, Neji thinks so, but rumour has it that Lord Hiashi himself stated that he wouldn't care if his daughter died in combat. Of course, that is probably just a rumour.
Lady Hinata hesitates, eyes flitting over to Neji nervously, but whatever Lady Hanabi might have meant seems to win her over. "Alright. I'll, uh, I'll do my best."
They spar back and forth, and while observing his cousins' fourth spar, Neji notices the way Lady Hinata seems to be moving. It's almost as if she's copying the technique he had been trying to teach Lady Hanabi, and she seems to be quite close to completing it as well.
Of course, Neji has noticed Lady Hinata's innate flexibility, something many Hyūga ninjas have to work decades to achieve. That had been another thing that had annoyed Neji about her. Lady Hinata had talent and she could be a great fighter, but she was held back simply because of her timidity, something he had identified as weakness before the chūnin exams, before Lady Hinata surprised him again and again by simply refusing to stay down.
It seems that they have had another prodigy right here, living under their noses, hidden behind a mountain of insecurities and harsh criticism.
Gai-sensei had once said that different people responded to different teaching styles. That was why he chose to be quieter with Neji and Tenten — as quiet as Gai-sensei could be — than he was with Lee, because apparently, Lee responded better to someone who matches his enthusiasm. How, Neji would never know; it just grates on Neji's nerves.
It seems that Gai-sensei's words apply here as well. Perhaps that is why Lady Hinata never flourished under the strict, almost stifling Hyūga lifestyle. Perhaps she needed to be guided gently. Or, Neji thinks, remembering Naruto's influence on her, just lots and lots of praise. Both are things the Hyūga clan is notoriously bad at — even Neji is self-aware enough to realise that.
He also notices the way Lady Hinata constantly glances towards him at the slightest movement, most likely expecting her to criticise the way she even breathes. Neji glances away from those fearful, hurt eyes whenever she does, bile rising to his throat.
During one of those times, his eyes catch sight of Lord Hiashi watching his daughters from a distance, and Lady Hanabi's words ring in his head. "I won't tell."
Before Neji can panic, however, Lord Hiashi looks over at him and gives him a curt nod before turning to leave. Neji doesn't know what he is thinking, and he can only hope that there won't be a problem.
When nothing happens in the next few days, Neji's worries eventually subside, if only barely. Senjū Tsunade is elected as the new Hokage, and the buildings that had been destroyed are slowly being repaired. Once again, life moves on.
Neji finds himself taking various D-ranked missions with his team. There's a lot to be done in the village and they need all the help they can get. And besides, Neji and his teammates are still genin, which makes them eligible for D-ranked missions.
As dull as those missions are, They are made at least a bit more bearable by Lee constantly challenging him to stupid things like, "Let's see who can do this the fastest!" and proceeding to make a total fool out of himself — so, nothing unusual but still amusing.
The evenings provide a bit more action, at least, what with his new training regime with his cousins. They're both improving by leaps and bounds, so much so that Neji wonders why they aren't known as the prodigies they are.
Lady Hanabi becomes less guarded as the days go by, offering room for conversations beyond nods and gestures. Even if she doesn't start any conversation herself, it's still progress and Neji's willing to take it. In contrast, Lady Hinata is less jumpy and more willing to join their training. Her fearful glances that always expect reproach eventually cease, and Neji finds it easier to breathe around her. She doesn't talk much even now, but she does stop flinching at his every word and even responds to him one without stuttering more than usual.
It is among these slow days that, in the middle of the night, Neji is awoken by grunts and chakra cutting through the bark of a tree. He groans and mentally curses whoever thought that this was a good time to train.
He tries to sleep through it but to no avail. Eventually, Neji gives up and decides to see who it is. Of course, it's not his place to order someone to go to sleep, but he has nothing to do now that his sleep is disturbed.
When he steps outside, he is surprised to find Lady Hanabi diligently beating up a tree. She's using that technique he's been teaching her. Why, he has no clue. She has already perfected it to the best degree. She has no need for late night practice.
"Lady Hanabi?"
His cousin jumps and her head snaps towards him. She must have been pretty out of it to not notice him walk into the training ground. Normally, Lady Hanabi is keenly aware of her surroundings.
"Nii-san," she says flatly before returning to her practice.
"What are you doing?" Neji asks.
Lady Hanabi pauses, and then gives him a deadpan look. She doesn't have to say anything to convey how much of an idiot she thinks Neji is being.
In response, he simply raises an eyebrow. "This late?"
Her eyes narrow. "I need to practice."
"You're practising something that has already been perfected."
"It's not perfect." She turns her glare onto the tree, as if that's the thing at fault. "Yet."
She moves to strike the tree again, but pauses when Neji speaks up. "You're wasting your time and effort."
Lady Hanabi swivels around to glare at him. "I'm training!"
Neji crosses his arms, trying his best not to sigh. If this is what Neji had been like when he'd first become a genin, then he really owes Gai-sensei and his teammates an apology. "Resting in an important part of training too."
Lady Hanabi grits her teeth. "I'll be fine."
Neji isn't so easily deterred. "Spar with me."
Lady Hanabi blinks. "What?"
"Spar with me. If you win, I'll leave you alone, but if I win, you will rest."
It's a risky gamble, he knows, but it's the only thing he can think of to get Lady Hanabi to back off. Both his cousins are probably the most stubborn alive, even if they express it differently. Once their minds are set on something, nothing can convince them otherwise.
Recently, however, Neji has come to realise that the best way to convince Lady Hanabi is to make a bet with her. She would never break her work, no matter how much it bothered it. He is still trying to figure out how to deal with Lady Hinata's brand of stubbornness, though it is usually not a problem because it shows up less frequently, usually never unless it's a dire situation.
His mind flashes back towards the chūnin exams, and Neji fights back a flinch.
"She's going into cardiac arrest!"
Lady Hinata may show it less frequently, but she, too, is just as stubborn as her sister, unwilling to give up on her ideals even in the face of near death.
"That's unfair," Lady Hanabi says, and Neji welcomes the distraction. "There's no way I can win against you!"
Neji raises an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
Lady Hanabi looks away, hands clenched, head bowed and shoulders shaking. It seems that Lady Hinata is not the only one in the family with doubts.
He doesn't call attention to it though. If there's anything Neji knows about his cousins, it's that they — any Hyūga, actually — hates to be called out on anything that could be perceived as a weakness.
Instead, he says, "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." When Lady Hanabi scoffs, he frowns. "I mean it. You've grown by leaps and bounds in just this week alone. I had a hard time defending against you in our last spar."
Lady Hanabi glances at him doubtfully, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I mean it. I don't lie to comfort people."
At that, Lady Hanabi snorts. "Yeah, no kidding." She gets into the traditional Gentle Fist stance and Neji mirrors her. "In that case, I'm not going to hold back."
It's a tough battle, but Neji ends up narrowly winning, and true to her words, Lady Hanabi leaves the training ground with him.
However, Neji is too awake to fall asleep now, and all he can think of is why his cousins both doubt their own strength. In Lady Hinata's case, he can understand. She never had anyone to believe in her, always degraded by all those around her until she was nothing but an insecure mess.
Lady Hanabi, it seems, is the opposite. She's been the one people have always considered a true Hyūga heiress, the one who people expected to become the next leader, the one always compared favourably with her sister. He wonders for the first time if that pressure is too much for Lady Hanabi sometimes, and vows to keep an eye on her as well.
When he is woken up again by someone else the next night, Neji groans out loud. The shuffling outside stops, and Neji automatically knows who it is.
No one in the Hyūga clan except Lady Hinata walks so nervously. Though what she is doing in the branch family's complex, Neji has no clue.
He walks towards the door, wondering when exactly he became close enough to his cousins for this to be a thing. For him to care enough to forgo his sleep two nights in a row to check on them. And as he walks out the door, he knows he won't be sleeping peacefully tonight; it happens every day he notices a red flag in either of his cousins' behaviours.
Lady Hinata isn't too far from his room, and Neji has a feeling that she moved away when he woke up.
He rubs his eyes, trying to get them to open up properly, before turning to actually observe his cousin. Neji stops short at what he sees.
Lady Hinata is huddled into a corner, hunched into herself in an obvious attempt to make herself seem smaller. He's seen it so many times before, and it has only become painful to see this past week, but even a week doesn't make it easier to watch.
"Lady Hinata?"
She flinches on being addressed, trying to shuffle further into the corner. In the night's silence, Neji can hear her breath hitch.
Frowning, he steps towards her, examining her for any injuries or other signs of whatever might be wrong with her. "Are you alri—?"
"I'm sorry!" she blurts out, louder than Neji has ever heard her before. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so—" A hiccup interrupts her, and Neji watches, helpless and unsure of what to do, as Lady Hinata struggles to breathe.
Neji has an awful feeling that she is crying in the middle of her panic attack. He tries to move towards her, but his feet are frozen for some reason.
That is, until Lady Hinata slides against the wall, crouching in the corner as she now sobs freely.
Neji immediately moves towards her, and miraculously, she doesn't flinch away. He hesitates for a moment, and then slowly sets a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Lady Hinata murmurs, sniffling.
Neji swallows back an instinctive, "For what?" and tries to speak more gently. "There's nothing you have to apologise for."
When Lady Hinata doesn't respond, he reaches out to ruffle her hair the way he has seen Lee and sometimes Tenten do with the kids around the village. Lady Hinata acts first though and throws her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder.
Neji freezes, and slowly, he reaches out. Hesitant arms wrapped around his cousin, and Lady Hinata's grip tightens. Her tremors have subsided, Neji realizes, and warmth settles in his chest as he realizes that Lady Hinata considers him safe.
They stay like that for a while, huddled in the corner of the hallway outside his room, clinging to each other as if their lives depend on it. Eventually, Lady Hinata pulls away, and Neji lets her, though he keeps a hand on her shoulder as she wipes her tears away.
"I'm sorry," she murmurs, sniffling.
Neji shakes his head. "Don't be. It's alright." He hesitates before adding, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Lady Hinata shakes her head. "I–It was just a nightmare. Sorry for bothering you over something so silly."
Neji frowns. "It's not a bother. And it's not silly if it disturbed you so much."
Lady Hinata chews on her lower lip and nods, probably more because she doesn't want to argue than out of agreement. Still, Neji lets the matter drop for now; he's in no mood to argue either, as much as one can argue with Lady Hinata, and he doesn't want to end up pushing her away.
Instead, he leads her over to her room. "It's getting late. You should try to get some sleep."
Lady Hinata nods. "I, uh, I'll leave then. Thank you."
"Wait," Neji says quickly, before she can actually start to leave. "You can stay here for tonight. It's cold outside, and your room is a bit far."
Lady Hinata opens her mouth to protest but what comes out is a yawn. She ducks her head, and Neji has a feeling that she is blushing.
He chuckles. "I guess that answers that."
Lady Hinata follows him without a complaint this time, only speaking up when Neji offers her the bed. Somehow, he manages to convince her that he'll be fine on the futon, although it takes five minutes that he would have lived to use to try to get some sleep. He probably wouldn't have been able to, but he would have liked to try.
Lady Hinata's quiet breathing is soothing and almost lulls Neji to sleep, until she speaks up once more. "Nii-san?"
Neji forces his eyes open and grunts.
"You… This won't stop, right? You won't change again… right?"
Neji blinks at the ceiling, trying to force his sleep deprived brain to work. Then, the words register in his mind and his head snaps towards her.
Lady Hinata stares back, looking down at him from the bed almost reluctantly. She's chewing on her lip again, clearly regretting speaking up.
"No," he says as soon as he finally finds his voice. "I promise. I will never treat you like again."
Promises can be dangerous, especially those about the future. Neji know that. One can never tell what is going to happen in the future. But he knows that no matter what, nothing could ever convince him to go back to the way he had been before. He's seen too much; he's become too attached.
Gai-sensei has once said that Neji's biggest weakness is that he cares too much about the people he becomes attached to, and for the first time, Neji is beginning to see what he had meant.
There is a break from his routine when Neji gets assigned a C-ranked mission for a change. It is nothing too complicated, a simple guard duty for a merchant who hired them because of the recent unrest in the Land of Fire. What is complicated, however, is the fact that it is a paired mission, and the team assigned this mission with them is Team Eight.
"I trust that there will be no issues?" Lady Tsunade's eyes rest on Neji as she speaks, and he knows that despite the phrasing, it's not a question.
When Gai-sensei remains silent, his eyes locked on Neji too, just like everyone else in the room, Neji responds, "None at all."
Lady Tsunade scrutinises him for a moment and then gives a curt nod. Neji wonders just how many people know about what happened, and reaches the conclusion that probably the whole village knows. News travels fast and gossip travels even faster. There are probably different versions.
There are lots of problems. Team Eight, when it comes to Gai-sensei, Lee, Tenten and their client, but when it comes to Neji, they are all but hostile, baring their teeth whenever he so much as glances at Lady Hinata. Even Kurenai-sensei eyes him suspiciously whenever he moves.
Lady Hinata, on the other hand, is nervous as usual, although this time, she seems more uncomfortable in the tense atmosphere.
Even as they walk in silence, tense and ready to snap at a moment's notice, Neji tries to keep his focus on his surroundings. The invasion has drawn a lot of rogue ninja, brigands and all sorts of troublemakers towards Konoha, and they can ill afford to let their guards down. It's difficult, however, now that Neji is finally confronted with the people who can't forgive him for what he did, a grudge Lady Hinata seems incapable of holding.
He's noticed a lot of red flags in the past week, things that are so obvious that Neji wonders how he could ever have missed them. The way Lady Hinata seems to brace herself whenever someone — mostly from the clan — is about to speak, the way she always appears to be genuinely surprised whenever someone compliments or just notes something even remotely positive about her, the way she is always so careful with her words as though afraid of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Her nervousness around him seems to have abated a bit, at least, but she is still usually hesitant to interact with him, and Neji wonders when his contempt went this far. When did he start bullying her?
The sound of leaves rustling his ears catches him off guard, and his eyes snap towards the kunai sailing towards them. Towards Lady Hinata.
In a split second, all he can think of doing is to reach out and protect his cousin by putting his arm between her and the weapon.
The sound of metal tearing flesh echoes in the silent clearing, and Neji grits his teeth, trying to push the pain away in favour of scanning the trees for the assailant. He hears a soft gasp behind him that might be Lady Hinata's and muttering, but his mind is already too far in overdrive to pay attention to that.
He barely spots the movement in the trees and that is only out of instincts born from two years of training with speed monsters like Lee and Gai-sensei.
The assailant jumps out of the way of Neji's kunai, which ends up firmly embedded in the tree branch, but unfortunately for him, everyone else is ready this time.
They make quick work of the man — from what Neji can gather from his fighting style, he seems like someone copying a ninja without any real training — and Neji has to wonder why he even bothered attacking two teams on his own.
"Nii-san."
Neji turns to see Lady Hinata's horrified eyes fixed on his injury. There are small specks of blood dotting her face, probably Neji's, which only goes to show how close it had been. For someone with no training, their assailant was one fast person.
"Are you alright?"
Lady Hinata blinks at him. "Am I—? I'mfine," she almost hisses, a flash of irritation sparking in her eyes.
So even she has her limits, Neji realises.
"Why would you do that?" Lady Hinata whispers shakily, as though the concept of someone — of Neji — caring about what happens to her is completely foreign to her.
Neji fights back a grimace. He can't exactly fault her for that.
"Dude..." At the new voice, Neji turns to Kiba, who is staring at him with a peculiar look in his eyes. Neji wonders how this looks to Team Eight; the person who had tried to kill their teammate a mere week ago just saved her life.
If that doesn't convince them that Neil is not a threat — thought he doubts it considering he did just save the person he had loathed the last time they'd seen him — any doubt they might have seems to clear away when Lady Hinata patched his arm up and Neji let's her, murmuring a soft thanks.
So this is why his father was so willing to die for Lord Hiashi. Neji can't say he blames him, not anymore.
As he watches Lady Hinata concentrate on the basic medical ninjutsu that she has been working on, he finally understands his father's choice.
It's during one of his training sessions with his cousins that Neji realises where they stand with each other. And it starts with a tea cup.
When Lady Hinata shows up in the middle of their training — she had had a team meeting and couldn't be there before — she does so with a tray of three tea cups and cake slices in hand.
Lady Hanabi raises an eyebrow, and Lady Hinata ducks her head shyly. "I, uh, I thought that you might be hungry."
At that, Lady Hanabi's expression softens. "Thank you." As she grabs one of the slices, she comments off-handedly, "I didn't know you could bake."
"It's been a while since I have," Lady Hunata says. "Mother and I—" She stops short, staring at her sister with apologetic eyes. "S–Sorry… I didn't mean—"
"It's fine," Lady Hanabi says a bit too quickly. Despite her words, she seems frozen for a moment before she breaks out of her stupor. She glances at Lady Hinata as though she wants to ask something but doesn't know how.
Lady Hinata, in an obvious bid to change the subject, offers a slice to Neji.
"Thank you," he says a few seconds too late, too caught up in his observation to think about proper etiquettes.
He's lucky it's only his cousins; most people from the main branch can't stand him, even more so than the other branch family members ever since the chūnin exams. He's been around the main family enough by now to know that it's not necessarily because they like Lady Hinata; for some, it's more because she's a member of the main family than any filial attachment.
"Nii-san? Is something wrong?"
Neji turns to Lady Hinata, frowning when she stiffens under his eyes before eventually relaxing. She's not afraid of him anymore, but she is still usually on the edge around him, and he wishes that he could change that. Unfortunately, all Neji can do is wait and show her that he really has changed and that she doesn't need to fear him anymore.
Something nudges his foot, and Neji looks at Lady Hanabi from the corners of his eyes.
She has a glare on her face, a warning to be nice to Lady Hinata. Neji almost smiles in amusement.
"Everything is fine." He turns to Lady Hanabi. "We should stop for today. You have your final exam tomorrow, right?"
Lady Hanabi rolls her eyes. "I know how to do basic ninjutsu. I'll be fine."
Neji sighs. "Regardless, I also have a mission tomorrow and I'd rather be well-rested for it."
If he didn't know better, he'd think that Lady Hanabi is pouting. "Fine." She turns back to her slice and swallows the little that remains in one bite. She hesitates for a moment and then asks, "How was your team meeting, Nee-san?"
Lady Hinata startles and her tea almost spills out of her cup. Neji can't exactly blame her. Lady Hanabi has never asked her sister anything beyond training before.
"I–It was alright. Uh…" Lady Hinata fiddles with the cup in her hand. "Kiba-kun was a bit upset though. He probably thought that we would get more missions outside of the village now." A small smile makes its way onto her face, though Lady Hinata doesn't seem to realise it. "Kurenai-sensei said that we need everyone to help in the village though."
Lady Hanabi nods, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Well, it's, uh, it's important for ninjas to help the village. It's kind of the point even."
Neji has never seen Lady Hanabi look so unsure before, but this is also the most he's seen his cousins communicate in his whole life. It's probably sad to feel proud of such a small conversation, but here he is, wedged between his cousins as they finally make small talk for the first time in what seems like years.
"Do you— Could—" Lady Hanabi flounders, obviously trying to figure out how to phrase whatever she's trying to say.
"Do you need something?" Lady Hinata asks.
"I, uh… Could you teach me how to bake sometime?" The words come out in a rush, but not so fast that Neji can't make out what's going on.
Lady Hinata blinks, caught off guard by the sudden request. Then, the words seem to register in her mind, and she smiles, her eyes sparkling suspiciously. "Of course." If her voice is a little choked up, no one mentions it.
It is at this moment that Neji knows for certain that their family is not unfixable. And he will do anything to patch things up amongst them.
o-o-o-o
I haven't been active on FFN in ages. I actually uploaded this fic in May but that was on AO3 and I kind of forgot to update stuff on FFN.
Anyway, As much as I like Neji's development and his brotherly relationship with Hinata, I always felt like there should have been a more gradual development to it
It seemed like they immediately went from Neji trying to kill Hinata to becoming so close, and while Hinata isn't someone who holds grudges, I do think that she would have been more afraid of Neji in the beginning considering all he did to her.
My depiction of Hinata and Hanabi's relationship might be a bit unusual. It always irked me that Hanabi barely existed in canon, and I've seen fanfics usually portray them as either close to each other or at the very least civil, where Hanabi usually admires Hinata's kindness and all. I've also seen a fic or two where Hanabi outright hates Hinata.
But I've always thought that the clan would keep them apart most of the time because they don't want Hinata and her innate kindness to be a "bad" influence of Hanabi. It's definitely a head canon but we see so little of Hanabi that I feel like it could work. So, their essentially strangers in this fiction and are starting to get to actually know each other by the end. I hope I managed to portray that.
This fanfiction was supposed to have more of Hiashi in it, but I couldn't write more about him because all I know about him is that I don't like it and apparently he becomes a better parent in Boruto. I haven't watched the anime past the chūnin exams, so I'm going off based on all the spoilers I have learned over the years, so someone please correct me if I am wrong.
This is my first time writing any of these characters, so any kind of feedback would be appreciated. Neji was especially hard to figure out, and I hope that my depiction of Hanabi doesn't seem too flat.