Author's Note: Once again, thanks for reading! Reviews are encouraged, and much appreciated.
Shikamaru groaned in relief when Ten-ten agreed to join Naruto's group for dinner. Almost immediately after saying 'yes,' she sprinted back across the street to finish her shift at the Sato family grocery store. Then she would have the entire night free for barbecue, and whatever else they had planned.
"It just took us...what? Almost three hours of standing out here like a bunch of geezers?" Shikamaru remarked to Naruto. "What a drag."
"Hey, shut up! It worked, didn't it?" Naruto yelled back.
"We haven't done anything with Ten-ten in a while," Chouji added between handfuls of potato chips.
"Chouji, you only care about the meat," his best friend replied with a slouch and an eyeroll.
The three friends parted ways until they were scheduled to meet Ten-ten outside the barbecue restaurant. Once seated, Naruto's barely-repressed questions tumbled out, overtaking all other topics of conversation. His portion of meat remained untouched. Shikamaru rubbed his temples, but thanked the gods that Naruto's rambling left no room for any discussion of Chouji's weight or eating habits.
At least Naruto kicked a powder keg that wouldn't result in a shattered storefront.
"Geez, Ten-ten, granny Tsunade didn't do anything to stop Neji from marrying his old lady cousin? And...did you really dump him? I thought he and his uncle were good. What happened to that?"
Ten-ten gripped her bamboo chopsticks with both hands, almost snapping them as her thumbs warped them upward. She ground her teeth and imagined herself leaving the booth to eat porridge at home.
Nobody besides Neji, her parents and Hiashi Hyuga knew the baby ever existed. She and Neji had kept his marriage proposal and desperate appeals for her hand a secret from their friends. She wasn't eager to inform Naruto of everything he'd missed over his training retreat.
Before she could form her answers, Shikamaru sighed, muttering what a drag.
"Naruto, the hokage doesn't get involved in clan business. The clan head has the final say on what happens to anyone in the clan," he explained to Naruto's disbelieving face. "Hiashi Hyuga can marry Neji to whichever cousin he wants, and there's nothing any of us can do. He could kill Neji for looking at him the wrong way, and the hokage couldn't stop him."
Ten-ten flashed Shikamaru a discreet smile then fixed her eyes on the browning short ribs sitting on the grill. As she watched the pit of flickering flames beneath the meat, Shikamaru's nonchalant delivery began to bother her. Ten-ten heard no inflection in her friend's voice even as he stated that Hiashi Hyuga held Neji's life in his merciless hands. Her stomach churned at the thought of Neji tortured to death for dishonoring the clan – dishonor brought by his love for her.
It won't happen. It hasn't happened so far. Neji's too careful. They can't know. Panicked thoughts raced through her.
Chouji looked sidelong at Ten-ten with worry.
"But...but that's not fair! I'll never stand for that when I'm hokage," Naruto shouted, turning scattered heads at the booths around theirs.
Shikamaru raised both palms and shook his head.
"Hey, calm down. I'm just the messenger. Not saying I think it's right, but I get why the hokage's not rushing in to rescue Neji."
"Yeah? Tell me why!"
A scowling middle-aged woman pivoted to shush Naruto, complaining that the village's young shinobi had no sense of decorum.
Chouji patted Ten-ten's back and offered her a paper napkin. He frowned, then whispered a question – should I tell them to stop? You don't look good.
She met Chouji's eyes and mouthed no, I'm fine. Only sheer curiosity kept her listening. In the last several months, she'd never stopped to consider how the hokage fit into the horrible puzzle.
"The Byakugan. We're the only ones that have it. The village can't have any of its users defecting and taking it somewhere else. And...a Hyuga with a seal isn't running away," Shikamaru explained, impatient with Naruto's ignorance. "So Hiashi Hyuga and the village have converging interests here."
The seal can reach me wherever I go in the world. My uncle makes the signs, and I'm helpless against it. As long as they know I'm alive, they'll never let me go.
Ten-ten pictured Neji sobbing those words into her pillow a few weeks ago. He'd refused to face her for almost an entire hour, until his pale complexion returned and his blotted tears dried. Then he begged her forgiveness for losing his composure and ruining a freshly laundered pillow.
However repugnant Tsunade found the Hyuga seals in private, she would never lift a single painted finger to force the clan to free Neji, and its dozens of marked hostages. In the months after Neji exposed his seal at the chunin exam finals, Ten-ten recalled scattered whispers of disgust and speculations on whether the new hokage would sanction Hiashi Hyuga. Yet the whispers faded, and the branch Hyuga kept their seals out of sight and out of mind for outsiders.
"For the good of the village...all those people," Ten-ten almost whispered. "Gods, did every hokage know what they were doing?"
The village was Neji's second prison, one that possessed his heart and mind. Though he didn't declare his loyalty with Lee or Naruto's unrestrained enthusiasm, she could often sense him straighten with pride at invocations of the will of fire.
The village was a prison where he remained because of her.
"Wouldn't surprise me, Ten-ten," Shikamaru replied.
It's like he's bored with a shogi match. Like this is all a logic game to him, Ten-ten fumed. I'll make him feel something…
"Ten-ten, do you still want your shortribs?" Chouji asked, dissipating the angry fog around her.
"Ah – yeah, thanks. Any longer and they'd have burned."
Ten-ten collected the pieces of meat in her plate and immediately burned her tongue when she tried to take a bite.
Ignoring her wince, Naruto leaned over the table to address an unfazed Shikamaru.
"That's the biggest load of nonsense I've ever heard! The village doesn't need to keep people down to be great! I'm going to make sure the Hyuga –"
"Naruto. You can't change a thing. Settle down and stop making yourself look like an idiot."
"Hey – at least Naruto gives a shit about his friend," Ten-ten snapped, careful to keep her voice low enough to avoid attracting more undue attention. "I don't know what's wrong with you, Shikamaru. These people's lives aren't a little puzzle you can solve to feel smart."
Shikamaru took a deep breath and muttered a curse.
"Ten-ten. The whole branch clan-main clan thing is pretty gross. I get why you're mad," he said, a hint of sympathy inflecting his voice. "My dad tells me he can't stand to look at Hiashi Hyuga during those clan meetings they have every few years. And I hate that guy, too. In a perfect world, he'd be in prison."
Ten-ten clenched both fists on the table. Chouji watched her with narrowed eyes, a piece of cooked meat suspended midway to his mouth.
"Yeah?" she retorted.
"Hate me if you want, but I'd rather focus on what I can change," Shikamaru continued. "Think about it, Ten-ten. You too, Naruto. none of your yelling gets Neji any closer to freedom. Just accept you can't always be the hero."
He's right, Ten-ten realized. Damn. Only leaving the village...and Neji's not leaving without me.
She surveyed the three faces around her. Then she pictured her parents. Lee. Gai sensei. She considered the prospect of never seeing them again, and never hearing her true name from anyone but Neji. Ten-ten felt a rush of air beneath her, as if she sat at the water tower's precipice about to jump.
Only the most determined members of the Hyuga branch clan would contemplate escape. A creeping voice in her mind insisted that she could at least make the jump with his hand in hers.
Four blocks from where Ten-ten's group had finally settled into a normal conversation, Neji flagged a passing busboy to ask about the sushi restaurant's birthday discount.
"It's my cousin's birthday, and the sign in your window informed me that she could eat for half-price."
The quivering blonde boy shrugged, and stuttered that he didn't work at the restaurant – he was a genin on a D-level mission. Neji scanned him for a hidden leaf headband, and found it wrapped around his right arm.
"Then get your sensei, or the manager," Neji replied curtly. "Any proper shinobi should know when to defer to authority."
"S-sorry," he squeaked. "Of course, I'm not...I-I can't be as great as you."
Risa glared at her husband, then turned to the genin with a smile.
"I apologize for my husband's tone. Please, I would appreciate if you could find someone to help us."
The boy returned less than two minutes later with his sensei, who seized with surprise when he finally saw the couple at the booth.
"Oh, you didn't tell me, Shinji…Well, no matter. I just need to see some proof from the lady here. The mission would be a failure if we let freeloaders fleece the restaurant," the jounin said with a nervous laugh.
Like his student, he kept his eyes fixed on the wall behind the booth.
Risa pulled her hidden leaf identification card from her silk coin purse and set it at the table's edge.
"Risa Hyuga? I haven't seen you in so long! Oh, happy birthday to you! Would you like Shinji to sing?"
"Sensei, I-I'm not much good at singing," his genin protested. "I don't want to embarrass myself in front of…"
"No, thank you. And I promise you have no reason to fear me," Risa interjected, extending an open palm for her ID. "Have a great evening."
As teacher and student left, Neji glanced at Risa's card. He noted her unsmiling, wide-eyed face framed by the same bangs and flowing hair she wore now. Her hidden leaf headband was slung around her neck, the fabric draped across her collarbones. She appeared caught off guard by the photographer, perhaps stunned by the camera's flash.
"You have quite an effect on people, Neji," she remarked, slipping her card back in place. "Of course, I knew that poor genin wasn't scared of displeasing me."
Neji Hyuga had little patience for insecure, softhearted shinobi other than Hinata.
"It's not my fault the academy graduates subpar shinobi," Neji countered. "That boy will remain a genin for the rest of his life, if he's lucky."
Risa scowled, as if he'd personally spat in her face.
He speculated on what kind of konoichi Risa had been – the face on her ID gave no hints. Perhaps Risa attended the academy and advanced from genin to jounin only out of clan expectation, rather than burning devotion to the will of fire or a desire to prove her strength. Able-bodied children born into the village's largest ninja clan – especially into the branch clan – had no choice but to serve. He wondered whether she responded with a stony I'd rather not say when her sensei or teammates asked why she wanted to become a shinobi.
Risa might have nodded in understanding at his handling of Might Gai's first icebreaker. My clan offered me no other future hardly made for a compelling answer alongside Lee and Ten-ten's starry eyed hopes.
Neji parted his lips to pose the question, then opted for silence.
"Hm."
The couple sat without speaking, except to place their orders with a waitress who refused to look into either set of white eyes.
Once her tray of edamame arrived, Risa distracted herself with emptying each pod, laying the shells on a paper napkin. Neji's eyes traced the back and forth motion of her hands.
Not a finger out of place, he thought. He could tell his wife was thoroughly schooled in table manners, her habits ingrained into muscle memory.
"So. You thought of my birthday," she stated. "The card was a nice touch."
The tray sat empty in front of her.
"Yes. My uncle made sure I acknowledged the occasion. He wanted me to grant you one night off from cooking dinner."
"As I suspected. I'm grateful," Risa said, her voice suggesting that she didn't reserve her gratitude for Neji.
Silence returned to their booth, while Neji observed that later arrivals had already received their sushi. He idly considered flexing his reputation to give the restaurant staff some urgency. Or complaining that their incompetence threatened to ruin his dear cousin's birthday.
Instead, he traced the hidden leaf symbol on the condensation of his water glass. Then wiped the glass and searched his mind for ways to initiate conversation with the woman across from him.
The couple almost never spoke over home cooked dinners, except when Neji disparaged his food or occasionally thanked her for preparing a well-timed meal.
Food. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. He could think of no other commonalities between them that wouldn't potentially precipitate an argument.
"Where did you learned to cook, Risa? Your mother?" he ventured.
Risa flinched and shook her head. She mouthed no, and pressed the fingertips of both hands to her eyes. Neji felt a rush of embarrassment. If he displayed such ignorance about the subject of an intelligence-gathering mission, the hokage would have reprimanded him in the strongest terms. But he excused his ignorance of his own wife – of her shinobi career, of his in-laws – with the reassurance that he intended to break their union at the first opportunity.
He moved to retract his question, then she answered in breathy, halting sentences.
"I didn't have a mother. Or a father. I split my time between several aunts and uncles. A few nights here, a few nights there."
Neji's eyes connected with hers for a second before he redirected his gaze to the tip of her nose. Her intense gaze unnerved him.
"I also lost my mother and father at a young age," he said. "My mother died of illness shortly after my birth."
He carefully omitted any mention of his father's untimely end, denying Risa the opening to berate him for failing his father's legacy.
"Of course I know that," Risa replied. "I only wish my parents were like yours. Mine were traitors, both of them."
I know that's what my uncle and my aunt Keiko would say about them, Neji wanted to add.
Neji could imagine a young Risa inculcated into serving the clan as penance for the "original sin" of her parents' defection. He was struck by an unexpected hit of righteous outrage on Risa's behalf. If he could free her from the prison of guilt…she could be persuaded to help him escape.
Neji dismissed the spark of optimism by reminding himself to move with caution. Trying to enlist her against Hiashi Hyuga could send her running to the clan head with fresh proof of his treachery.
"They tried repeatedly to gouge my eyes and sell me to a convent of nuns, all before Lord Hiashi could place the seal on me. They failed each time because I screamed too loudly. I was seven when my parents were exiled...sent beyond the mountains," Risa explained, bitterness seeping into her voice. "I assume you've heard the stories."
"Not of your mother and father, no," he replied, without adding that her parents died screaming as the activated seal dissolved their brains.
Risa probably heard the polite lie from an aunt or uncle, and latched onto it to cope with the trauma of becoming an orphan.
The punishments meted to Risa's parents would petrify the hearts of any knowledgeable branch Hyuga who heard even a whisper of their names. That branch Hyuga would reassure themselves that because they served the clan with unwavering loyalty, they remained safe. And they weren't wrong.
Rejecting the Byakugan was the ultimate act of betrayal against the Hyuga. Risa could not serve the main clan without her eyes intact. His uncle would show no mercy to any Hyuga who attempted to deprive the main clan of a caged slave.
"Better a blind, starving orphan than a slave," she said with a single harsh laugh. "Your uncle...the clan...I owe them for saving me."
A faint pink shadow rimmed her eyes, and the corners of her lips pinched in discomfort. She ran a sleeve across her eyes, redirecting her gaze to the cold pile of edamame shells.
If they could hear their daughter now, they'd be devastated, Neji thought. He couldn't imagine himself gouging a hysterical child's eyes and casting her out from the only family she knew. Yet he also couldn't imagine himself witnessing the seal materialize on his child's forehead and thanking Hiashi Hyuga for performing the ritual.
"I'm sorry."
Neji refrained from stating any of his thoughts that would rouse Risa into a defense of their clan.
He admitted to himself that she wasn't insane for regarding the Hyuga patriarch as her savior from a lonely, stunted life.
"It's my birthday...Let's not dwell on the past," she sighed. "Actually, I might have lost my appetite."
She gasped at the sudden pressure of her husband's pale hand on her wrist. His hand was surprisingly warm, the skin soft and smooth. Not hard and cold as she'd imagined. Neji averted her inquiring look and clenched his jaw.
"I agree. Let's not focus on the past," he concurred.
She closed her eyes and nodded with a faint smile.
"Risa, are you alright? Your hand is shaking."
"I'm okay. I can eat a little."
His fingers circled the knobby bone on the side of her wrist.
"Calm down. You're safe here."
Shinji's breathless sensei arrived bearing two platters of sushi and a water pitcher. Hearing the jounin approach, Risa felt Neji's hand tense around her wrist.
She sensed something resembling embarrassment in her husband's heavy huff, as if he resented showing softness in front of a man he considered an inferior shinobi.
"The kitchen...there was a mix-up...so sorry!" the jounin pleaded against Neji's stony expression. "Forgive us...so many of the restaurant's regular staff are out –"
"Spare me the apology."
"Oh! I'll leave you and your...uh, cousin to enjoy dinner in peace," he immediately replied, thankful for the excuse to leave their booth behind.
Neji retracted his hand, muttering something that sounded like don't think anything of it.
Risa held her wrist.
He almost held my hand, she realized.
When she pondered her feelings between bites, she found no inkling of romantic affection for him – in the holding hands way or otherwise. Yet part of her wished their food had never arrived. Neji's comforting hand hadn't felt unpleasant.