A Caged Bird's Love: Chapter Five
The morning after the fight with the bandits, the two Hyuugas reached the Fire Country border. If Hinata hadn't already known that they were leaving the country, she wouldn't have noticed. The lush emerald forests spread out from both sides, going on for eternity.
"Ah, Neji-nii-san, are you sure that this is the right way?"
"Yes." Ever since last night, Neji had been strangely quiet and stiff. Not that this was unusual, but Hinata wondered why his mood had shifted from almost friendly to, well, normal. Not that she wasn't glad he was normal, but she had been enjoying the company of Friendly Neji.
If only she could hear what was going on in his mind.
Agh, what the hell am I doing, stupid brain, having these thoughts. God, she's so cute in the morning- WAIT STOP IT YOU BASTARD! STOP HAVING THOSE THOUGHTS! For crying out loud she's your COUSIN! She would be off limits anyway! She part of the Main House, she's the heir…….I wonder what her hair smells like; I bet it would be nice…..NO NO NO NO! God dammit, she probably hates you anyway. I wouldn't blame her, not after how I treated her for all those years……Do you think she has a boyfriend? STOP IT, FOR THE LOVE OF PEACE-
And so the two-sided argument went on, carefully confined to Neji's mind. He concentrated on walking straight ahead, hands at sides….calmly, calmly……The only clue to the battle raging inside of him was the clenched jaw, muscles tensed.
He needed a distraction. He abruptly stopped, causing Hinata to bump into his shoulder. "Ano…I'm sorry, Neji-nii-san, I didn't see you."
He waved it off. "Never mind, it's all right. Listen, we need to pick up the speed. Time to run." He pointed to the trees. She nodded and they both disappeared, only to rematerialize a second later in the branches, running through the canopy like the ninjas they were.
Neji managed to get his mind off the kunoichi beside him as he flew from limb to limb. Thwunk, thwunk, thwunk. His feet methodically hit the branches that passed beneath him at an alarming rate. Hinata was falling behind.
She didn't say a word, for the fear that Neji would see her as a weakling. So she tried her hardest to keep up with prodigy's steadily increasing pace, while said shinobi noticed nothing.
Neji noticed that as they continued through the forest, the ground was becoming steadily rockier as their distance from the Fire country increased. He smirked and flew on. They were going the right way.
As the morning wore on, the sky grew dark with threatening clouds. Hinata looked at them worriedly. Was in going to rain? She didn't mind, but it would slow them down.
A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye made her turn. Neji had stopped and held up a hand. "We stop here."
"Eh? W-why?" Hinata landed next to him.
He pointed a finger. Hinata looked and was surprised to see that the forest only continued for five feet from where they were standing. Rocky terrain, almost desert-like, stretched in front of them, empty, and lonely looking.
"T-this?" Hinata glanced at the young man next to her. "Is this where we are going?"
He shook his head. "No. Snow Country is on the other side of this."
"Ah."
The sky growled warningly and the dark clouds emptied their burden on the land bellow.
Silence.
Neji sighed and hopped down. "Wonderful."
Hinata couldn't resist giggling at his face. She swept her increasingly damp bangs out of her face and hopped down after him. They walked the last five feet and stopped where the rock began.
"The rain has not made this any easier," Neji said, looking up at the downpour. The rain was making the land slippery, footing would be treacherous. Hinata nodded and started to work her way over the rocks.
A half and hour later, they had made some progress; the forest was no longer visible. The rain continues to come down, and there was no sign of it letting up anytime soon.
Neji had taken the lead, hoping over the huge, ancient stones easily. Hinata was behind, having a harder time on the slippery rock.
He kept walking until a soft cry from behind him caught his attention. His spun, surprised.
Hinata had fallen off a fairly large rock, and was on the ground, her leg in an odd position underneath. She grimaced at the pain shooting up her leg..
Neji rushed over to her. "Hinata-sama! Are you alright?" He immediately regretted asking. What a stupid question, can't you see that she's hurt!
She nodded slowly, trying to get to her feet. Trying to put a little weight on the injured, she immediately collapsed again, pain making her eyes glisten with tears. Hinata silently forbade herself to cry, not in front of Neji. She gave him a weak smile. "I'm good, please do not worry about me."
He stared at her. How could she be okay? Neji had not missed the expression on her face as she had tried to stand up. She couldn't move. He bent down to her leg. He pulled up her pant leg, making her squeak. "W-wh-what are you d-doing, Neji-nii-san?"
He shushed with a look and turned his attention to her leg. It looked fine, but he was no medic-nin. He reached out a hand and placed his fingers around her ankle tenderly. "Tell me when it starts to hurt, okay?"
She nodded. Neji gently applied pressure to her ankle. After trying several different points, he pushed lightly against a different point on her ankle, closer to her leg. She gasped in pain and grabbed his shoulder for support. He sighed. "Found it. Is it broken or sprained?"
"Broken," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. He inwardly groaned. This wasn't good.
"I can heal myself, just not here. A dry area would be better," she told him, not releasing her hold on his shoulder. Neji nodded and turned around, crouching. "Get on."
"W-What?"
He sighed. "Get on. I'll carry you, since you can't walk in the condition."
Hinata inched forward and got on to his back, arms around his neck, being careful not to choke him. Neji smirked and hoisted her up, trying not to move her leg. He bent his knees and jumped into the air, racing past the rest of the landscape.
A large landmass appeared in the distance, growing bigger as Neji streaked towards it. After five minutes, the hazy shape was revealed as an enormous stone structure, left behind by the glaciers millennia before and shaped by longs years of wind and rain.
Neji circled until he found a cave-like overhang at its base. He carefully deposited Hinata on the ground, out of the way of the rain. She smiled at him gratefully, making his heart skip a beat. He turned to hide his blush.
Hinata pulled off her pack and Neji's, which he had given to her to carry. Neji light a chakra fire in an indent in the rock floor, as there was no wood in this barren territory . The eerie light flickered across the walls, creating twisted shadows in the darkening twilight.
Hinata placed both hands on her ankle, this time ignoring the pain. Green chakra flowed out through her fingers, enveloping the limb. Neji watched her face, made paler by the unnatural flame. Her raven hair stood out even more in contrast.
His head told him to look away, stop having these feelings. She was forbidden area, he could never have her anyway, it told him. I know, he thought, but…I can't look away. Her pristine beauty captured his eyes, confusing his senses. He wanted to take in her scent, feel her hair underneath his fingers……..
Almost as she could feel his gaze upon, Hinata stopped and looked up. Her eyes were caught in his, drowning her in a whirlwind of emotions, trapping her……
She tried in vain to ripe her eyes from his, finding no success. Her throat seemed stuck, her mouth would not move. She struggled to open it, whispering.
"N-neji…nii……san….." Her words trailed off, but it was enough to bring Neji back to reality. He blanked and looked down, embarrassed. What had she seen in his eyes? "Ah… sorry, Hinata-sama. Is your leg alright?"
"Hm? O-oh, yes, it's fine now. I hope it is no trouble."
He shook his head. "No."
Hinata hung her head. It was her fault they had to stop, to delay their search. She was holding him back, just like always. A lone tear made a path down her cheek. "I-I'm so s-sorry, Neji-nii-san," she whispered sadly.
Neji's head snapped up. Why was Hinata apologizing? He was shocked to see a tear glistening on her face. An impulse seized him, and he walked over to her, kneeling by her side. His hand brushed the tear tenderly from her cheek, making her look up, eyes surprised at his sudden contact. He smiled softly. "Is something wrong, Hinata?"
His use of her name without the honorifics stunned Hinata, though not in a bad way. Her name sounded so….intimate when he said it like that. She liked it. Once again, his eyes captured hers, freezing her where she sat.
Neji's hand slowly moved to gently cup her cheek, thumb stroking her face. Hinata leaned into his touch, still caught up in his gaze. Neji found his head moving closer to hers.
His face stopped half an inch from hers, so that their noses were touching. He could feel her hot breath on his lips, so enticing. He came closer, lips brushing hers in a light butterfly kiss. Her eyes widened and she gasped. The sudden noise brought him back to his senses and something inside of his head snapped. Neji threw himself backwards, nearly landing in the fire.
Hinata stared as he got up and turned, disappearing into the downpour outside. She put a hand over her lips. She could still feel his mouth on hers, and the emotions it brought to the surface. Her face burned at the mere thought. He had been so close….closer than any other boy had ever been. My first kiss, she thought, staring out into the night where Neji had vanished into.
Author's Note:
Me: AGHHHHHH.
Sasuke: What's wrong now?
Me: This story. I think I'm taking their relationship to fast. What do you think?
Sasuke: Hm…….I don't know, ask the readers.
Me: Good idea. HEY EVERYBODY! READER QUESTION! Do you guys think it's going to fast? Please tell me your opinions!
Sasuke: Which means, yes, you actually have to log on to leave an answer, unless you don't want to. Whatever.
Me: So, what did you think of that chapter?
Sasuke: No good action between the two of them.
Me: No duh. This is not a smut story, as fun as those are to read. But why do you care about their relationship? In chapter three you said you were appalled by the lack of actual fighting action. You don't like romance remember?
Sasuke: (shifty eyes)
Me: (stares)………..
Sasuke: Um, well, I'm gonna get going- (gets out of chair-)
Me: (trips him. I thought he was a ninja?)
Sasuke: (falls. Hip pouch burst open)
Me: (wide eyes) ……..oh……..my……..god…..
Sasuke: (glares) Mention this to anyone and I will kill you.
Me: (snickers evilly) whoa, maybe you and Kakashi should get together, to, like, have a book discussion or something. (Picks up book. It's Icha Icha paradise, if you haven't already figured that out.)
Sasuke: Haha, very funny. Hey, give that back!
Me: No way. This is going to be very useful.
Sasuke: (sneers) What, as a reference?
Me: (hits him over head quite hard with chair.) Pervert. Of course not. BLACKMAIL, my friend, is what is going to be used for.
Sasuke: (groans) wonderful…….just don't tell Naruto. Or Sakura. She'll kill me.
Me: Yes I imagine she would. Hehehehe…..
Sasuke: my life is a living hell……
Me: Hey, you brought it on yourself. You are the one who came in here, if I remember correctly.
Sasuke: It's not my damn fault if you can't properly lock your door.
Me: Shut up. That sounded really perverted.
Sasuke: What? I-I didn't mean it like that!
Me: Suuuuure you didn't. Grrr there better not be a snow day tomorrow.
Sasuke: What does that have to do with this conversation?
Me: Nothing. Just randomly throwing it out there.
Sasuke:Right.
Juliagulia1017- thank you for reviewing! Lol nejihina is my favorite pairing XD
Mellyd- lol yup! She's such the multitasker!
Picup- I'm glad you liked hinata saving neji! It was to show that she was strong too. Lol boys are so hopeless sometimes
Kakashisgurl- thank you so so so much! (your review really made my day!) I'm glad ur friends like it to! I updated!
Shawna/snickerscsilvr2000/whatever you want to be called-………………… I have nothing to say. Absolutely nothing. No more soda in the afternoon for you. And btw: THIS IS A TEEN STORY! In case u've forgotten what that means, look it up! (sighs) u've been spending way to much time reading that ron story...but thanks for the review….I think….
White Alchemist Taya- thank you! I like ur suggestion- I'm gonna put it in one of the later chapters!
Flying jade- I'm glad you like it! Thank you!
Miz- thank you so much!
Kichou- thank you! I hope you liked this chapter!
Saskie- ahah..thanks.
Uwaaah! I got so many nice reviews! Thank you, everybody! And also, thank you to everyone who has been reading, this story has gotten over one thousand hits!
So please read and review, I hoep everyone liked this chapter! (yes, I know…I say the same thing every chapter….o well. -)