Author's Note

Thank you so much to the people who read, and hopefully liked, and to the people who put this story on their favorites/alert lists.

2owsum4u- thank you so much! I'm glad you like it!

mellyd- lol sure! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!

Saskie- thank you!

Lily Vendrem- haha (cackles evilly cough cough ahem. Anyway.) lol. Thank you!

Goshikku Seirei- thank you so much! ( I luved ur "picturesque" story! )

A Caged Bird's Love: Chapter Three

CRASH.

Neji groaned. He shouldn't have left his backpack in the middle of the floor. Was Hinata all right? He groaned again and put his head down, only to hit something that definitely was not his hard-wood floor. There seemed to be something, or someone beneath him. He slowly opened his eyes. White orbs starred back into his.

Hinata's eyes met and caught his own. She was extremely red. Neji couldn't figure out why until he realized what position they were both stuck in. If it had been anyone other than Hyuuga Neji, he would have gotten a severe nosebleed.

Their legs were tangled together and their fingers intertwined on the hand that Neji had grabbed while trying to help her. They were laying torso-to-torso with their noses a mere half-inch apart. Neji felt the blood go to his cheeks for what felt like the thousandth time that day. He knew he should get up……but….he couldn't. He didn't know why. He just seemed frozen there, locked eye-to-eye with the girl underneath him. Hinata starred back at him, now blushing furiously. But she didn't try to move either. Not that she could have if she had wanted to. Neji had her basically pinned to the ground. Her body was warm and Neji found himself loosing concentration. I'm touching her…you should really get up……no…I don't want to……His heart sped up as a warm sensation started in his stomach.

…………………….

………………………

……………………

"A-ano……," she whispered. Neji's mind cleared and he came to his senses. He lifted himself up.

"Um…..sorry, I shouldn't have…….." He sentence trailed off. Hinata got up and picked up the folders, which miraculously had not spilled their contents in the fall.

"I-it's not yo-your fault, Neji-nii-san," she mumbled. She bowed, and quickly departed, without looking at him once.

He heard the door close and the sound of footsteps walking quickly away. Activating his Byaakugan with a few hand seals, Neji watched as Hinata practically ran back to the Main family's complex. She wasn't crying, but she still seemed quite red. He groaned; his head in his hands. What the hell have I done?

The next morning, Neji woke up regular time; when the sun was just beginning to tinge the sky with rays of yellow. He walked to the kitchen and contemplated what he should make for breakfast. Maybe he should try something different for once. This was a routine for him, wondering if he should eat something different and then failing completely. Mostly because he only had one thing on his shelves. He sighed. Usually he ate out, even for breakfast. Not that there were many vendors open this early, but he always managed to find something before going to wait for Tenten.

After opening almost all the cupboards, searching for food, he found one in a corner that had a bowl of microwave ramen. He sighed. What a great way to start the day, he thought sarcastically. Though he would never admit this to anyone, cup ramen was probably one of the only things he could cook without a disaster. Or fire. Neji might have been good at many things, but cooking was not one of them.

After much swearing and difficulty, he managed to get the microwave to work. Watching the ramen bubble, he silently shouted at himself. Kuso, I'm worse than Naruto, I don't even know how to work this idiotic machine. Good thing Hinata's on this mission too. If she wasn't, I probably would've starved.

Beep. He took the cup out of the microwave, burning his fingers in the process. Swearing passionately, he ate his meal. Ugh, disgusting. I can't imagine why Naruto likes this garbage. It was overcooked and mushy. He glanced at the directions. Cook at high temperature in microwave for three minutes. Damn. He had put it in for seven, which was the time for the stovetop. Feeling like a failure, he tossed out the rest and went to get his backpack.

Hinata was waiting for him at the estate entrance. She was wearing her regulation jacket and pants, and had a small backpack slung of her back. Neji shrugged his shoulders, trying to get the backpack in a comfortable fit. He had changed his normal short-sleeved shirt for a long-sleeved one, but had kept his shorts and leg wrapping.

They both blushed when their eyes met, remembering the events of the previous evening. Neji coughed.

"Uh, so, should we get going?"

Hinata nodded. Avoiding eye contact, they walked in uncomfortable silence to the gate which led in and out of Konoha Village. To both's surprise, a see-off party seemed to have gathered. Gai and Lee were attracting odd glances from passer-by as they ran up to Neji, those weird fires burning in their eyes.

"YOSH! NEJI, I WANT YOU TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPRINGTIME OF LIFE AND SUCCEED TO YOUR VERY BEST ON THIS IMPORTANT MISSION THAT HAS BEEN PLACED ON YOUR SHOULDERS!" Gai roared at the top of his voice, earning him more odd glances and a murderous look from Neji. Lee, on the other hand, was very taken with his sensei's words.

"GAI-SENSEI! YOU RWORDS INSPIRE ME TO DO MY BEST! YOSH, I WILL FOLLOW YOU TILL THE END!" he cried, tears flowing down his cheeks. Gai gave his favorite student a thumbs-up and his trademark smile. Neji glowered at them both.

"Idiots," he mumbled. Tenten grinned as she walked up to him.

"Like your send-off committee, do you?" she asked, teasing him. He scowled at her.

"What the hell is this?" He asked, looking around at the small crowd off people. "It's just a mission. We've never gotten big farewell meetings like this before," he said, referring to the team's past missions.

"Yeah, well, apparently it's a very important mission. Didn't Hokage-sama mention that?" Tenten whirled a kunai knife idly on her finger. Neji glanced towards Tsunade, who was grinning at him. She probably knew what they were talking about.

"Well, she didn't put quite that much stress on it, really. Must've slipped her mind." Neji was pretty ticked off. Tenten shrugged.

"Anyway, we all came out here to wish you well and all that. So stop moping. God, I could be training right now. Besides, I wanted to give you this." She held out the kunai knife she had been playing with. Neji looked at her and lifted one eyebrow. "And you're giving this to me when I already have enough knives because…?"

She frowned. "Don't be stupid, you never know when you might need an extra. Besides, this isn't just any knife. It's my lucky kunai."

Neji was amused by this. "Your 'lucky kunai'? What's next, a lucky stuffed bear?"

She glowered at him. Boy, if looks could kill………..

"Hmph! Well, fine, you ungrateful little brat. Here I am trying to give you something that means a lot to me, and you scoff at it! I'll just give it to Hinata, then!"

This amused Neji even more. "Tenten, you don't even know Hinata-sama

that well."

At that she promptly spun on her heel and walked briskly towards where Hinata was standing, talking to Kiba. Neji grinned. Tenten was way to easily provoked…..

Hinata was very surprised when she found her friends waiting for her. Kiba had greeted her enthusiastically, dragging her over to where Kurenai and Shino were standing. Kurenai was smiling at her former student.

"I wish you luck, Hinata. Do your best," she told her. Hinata bowed, still looking confused.

"Kurenai-sensei, w-what is everyone doing here?"

Kiba jumped in, Akamaru barking happily from his perch on his master's shoulder.

"We're here to see you off of course! And that Tsunade-sama asked us all to come, but we woulda come anyway, Hinata. God, you're so lucky! An A-ranked mission! I wish I could go!" He said, Akamaru's tail wagging excitedly. Hinata smiled shyly and reached up to pet Akamaru's head. She was very fond of the dog.

Shino came out from the shadow of the tree. "Good luck, Hinata. I expect to see you soon," he said. Hinata was surprised; she hadn't expected Shino to come as well. And he had actually said more than two words in a row! That was quite a speech, for him. He stepped back and didn't say anything else. Kiba jumped in again and started giving her tips on fighting, which Hinata was actually not paying attention to. She was looking around at the people who had come.

Her team and Neji's team were here, as well as Tsunade, who was talking to the tall man with gray hair beside her. Hinata was confused. Why would Kakashi come to see them? She and Neji hardly knew him. She was a bit disappointed that Naruto wasn't there, even though she had long since given up on him. They had become friends, and she had been hoping to see him before she left.

Suddenly a hand came down on her shoulder and Hinata jumped. A glance backwards showed it to be Tenten, looking pissed off. A kunai knife was held in her hand. Hinata took a step back, shocked. Was Tenten attacking her?

As mad as she was, Tenten couldn't help but grin at the younger girl's reaction. "Maa, maa, I'm not trying to attack you, you know. Here." She held out the knife. "I want you to have this."

Hinata starred at her, puzzled. "Ano…Thank you, Tenten-san, but w-wouldn't it be better if you gave it to Neji-nii-san?"

Tenten shook her head, scoffing. "I already tried to give it to him, but he was an ass about it. Since he doesn't deserve it, I'm giving it to you. It's lucky."

Hinata nodded and accepted the knife. Tenten left after Hinata thanked her profusely. Lifting the kunai up to inspect it, Hinata found that it had a wickedly sharp point. It was scratched and dulled with age, but Tenten had obviously taken good care of it.

Neji walked up to her, glad to escape Lee and Gai. The beautiful blue beast of Konoha had wanted to give him a good bye huge, and Neji had just barely gotten away.

"Um, do you want to get going?" he asked her quietly. Hinata nodded and stored the knife away in her shuriken pouch.

Neji was starting to get seriously ticked off. All the people that had come to say good-bye were not helping his mood. Tsunade noticed this when she approached them with an evil grin.

"So Neji, did you enjoy your farewell?" she asked impishly. Neji glared at her murderously. Gaara of the Desert would have been put to shame.

But Tsunade grin just got bigger and she turned to Hinata. "Take care of yourself, Hinata. Before you go, I have a few messages that I was instructed to pass down to you. One, Naruto is extremely sorry that he can't be here, but he received a mission this morning and had to depart immediately with Jiraiya. He says he's sorry and says to 'kick some ass' to put it in quotes." Hinata blushed slighting at Naruto's language, but she was touched all the same. "Also, your father is also very regretful that he could not be here to wish you well. Some matters came up within the family and he had to attend to them. However, he says to try your best and 'do not be afraid to use it, if you have to.'"

Neji glanced at Hinata. What was it? Something unrecognizable flickered through Hinata's eyes and she bowed to Tsunade. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

The Hokage nodded and looked back over to Neji. "Sorry Neji. No messages for you." Neji shrugged. He hadn't been expecting any.

"Well, you two can get going now, I suppose," Tsunade told them. Neji sighed with relief and began o walk with a brisk pace out the gate, followed by Hinata, who waved back at her team. Kakashi nodded to them on the way out, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Hinata looked back as the gate shut behind them. Their mission had now officially begun.

Author's Note.

Sasuke: Wow. That chapter sucked.

Me: Shut up. It's called writer's block, okay? I had to write this chapter over like three times.

Sasuke: Well, that obviously didn't help it. Nothing happens.

Me: What do you mean 'nothing happens'? God, he fell on top of her!

Sasuke: Let me simplify this for you. No one dies, there is no blood or gore or fights, and it's moving so slow that I'm more interested in watching my nails grow.

Me: One, this is not a hardcore action story. This is a romantic story. If you haven't figured that out yet please go away so that I can write in peace. Two, there will be a fight next chapter. Three, yea, I know it's moving slowly. That's how I write.

Sasuke: Well, you better sped it up or people are going to get bored.

Me: You really are an insensitive bastard, you know that?

Sasuke: I think Naruto's told me that….once or twice…….

Me. Well, he's got a point.

Sasuke: Whatever. By the way, I've been thinking. Aren't Neji and Hinata cousins?

Me: So?

Sasuke: ………….

Me: What? I think they're good together.

Sasuke: ………….

Me: WHAT? SAY SOMETHING GOD DAMMIT!

Sasuke: That's disgusting………..

Me: Why, exactly?

Sasuke: Because, dumbass, they're family. They can't be together. That's just not right.

Me: Shut up. I already have the whole plot laid out. It's a little late to be thinking that. Besides, they are cousins, not siblings. If they were siblings, then I would agree with you. That would be weird.

Sasuke: It's still disgusting.

Me: Who asked you in the first place? Besides I like this pairing and I'm the author, so there really isn't anything you can do about it. Like I said, cousins are better than siblings. So they are better together than (tries to think of a sibling pair. Light bulb pops over head.) Oh yea, they're better than, say, you and Itachi. (no offense to anyone who likes this pair, I'm just using it as an example.) Right?

Sasuke: (silence.) (I think he's in shock)

Me: Uh, you alive in there?

Sasuke: ………………….

Me:………….(it dawns on me) OMIGOD, YOU ARE THINKING SOMETHING REEEALLY PERVERTED, AREN'T YOU? EWWWWWWWWW YOU PERVERT! (hits him over the head with computer monitor. That seems to wake him up)

Sasuke: (shivering) I think I'm now permanently scarred for life……

Me: disgusting.