Chapter 2: Neji
"Ah. Hizashi-san. I trust your mission went well?", said Lady Hyuga Hanako.
"Yes. The operation went smoothly, my lady.", said Hizashi with a stiff bow. He raised his head to look at her in the eye.
Hanako's heart seemed to constrict at the sight of him. His eyes were like dead fish, staring at her like twin orbs of pearlescent white. He looked haggard. His long hair was disheveled, spilling out of his loose ponytail. His face seemed ashen, even for a Hyuga. His were lips set in a firm downward curve.
"Will it please you to join me for tea?", she said hopefully.
"I was hoping to sit and write my mission report for the Hokage…", he began stuffily but all the while he stared longingly at her. It had been over a year since she had last seen him. Hiashi seemed to greatly resent her speaking with him. (Who wouldn't? She practically declared her love for another man to her husband at her betrothal ceremony!)
"Nonsense! Surely you're allowed a small tea-break. You have been shuttling back and forth between missions and Lord Hokage's office.", she said with false cheer.
She caught hold of his hand and practically dragged him to her parlour.
"Please, sit down. I'll have my attendant bring you some oolong-tea.", she said a trifle too loudly while shutting the sliding door.
Hizashi raised his eyebrows in bewilderment and parted his lips.
"My lady?"
Hanako performed six complicated hand seal at the blink of an eye, soundproofing the room.
"Now we can talk, without being overheard.", she said
She sat down next to him and held his face in her hands.
"What's wrong?", she asked softly.
"My lady, I… I haven't got the chance to tell you…I…. uh… Well… I got married last Autumn."
"Who's the bride?", she asked, with a jolt of jealousy.
"Elder Harada daughter. Her name is Kagura.", he said with a sigh.
Hanako remained silent.
"We are expecting a child.", he said bluntly.
Hanako felt something break and crumble inside of her. She swallowed. He had lifted his eyes to look at her face. He brought his face close to hers. Reached behind her and pulled out her hairpin. Aye yes. She was beautiful. She had tassels of midnight black hair that shone in shades of blue, falling gently on her delicate shoulders. Her small lips were like Cherry petals, full and ripe. She had a flush on her cheeks disappearing along her throat into her white kimono. Her Hyuga eyes were large luminescent orbs of moonlight brimming with unshed tears. The colour of her eyes was pale lavender rather than the generic Hyuga white.
"It's alright.", he whispered with a shaky smile.
And Hanako was undone. She began to sob silently. She buried her face between the open lapels of his flak-jacket, and sobbed. Hizashi's face was stoic but his eyes were moist.
She let out a pitiful stifled wail. She lifted her tear-stained snot covered face and said in between sobs,
"Wha… What a terrible person I am… Crying… Crying over the birth of a baby."
"Hush.", He cooed, "I am right here."
He held her in a comforting embrace, rocking back and forth. They stayed like this for some time until her sobs had mellowed into soft whimpers.
"Hizashi…", she whispered looking at his eyes solemnly , "I have one boon to ask of you."
"…", Hizashi was about to reply when she held his face in her hands and pressed her lips on his, lay him down and pinned him flat to the tatami. She sat up straddling his waist, eyes half-closing in arousal. His face was turned away from her as if in disagreement but he didn't offer any words of protest.
She brought her face down to his.
"My lady… We mustn't… I won't be able to stop…", He muttered in between kisses; quite hypocritical as he was already past the point of no-return and had begun to remove his flak-jacket.
"Then don't stop. It doesn't have to stop."
_x_
"Congratulations, Lord Hizashi.", said a clansman.
Hizashi nodded in mute acknowledgement.
"Congratulations, Lord Hizashi."
Thus the entire show of deference continued.
After the clansmen had left, Hizashi entered his wife's bedchamber. He sat on her bed and looked at her cradling his son. The baby was two months premature. There he was small and silent. When he first saw him, his heart nearly stopped in fear. The baby did not cry.
Kagura curiously peeked at her husband. He would try to hide it, but sometimes his naturally kind nature would get the better of him. He was absently stroking the baby's cheek while she was cradling it pretending to be asleep. His normally sharp stoic gaze had softened, making him look younger. She sighed inwardly stifling a pang of longing. He would never look at her like that. When her father announced that Lord Hizashi had consented to be married to her, she, like any Hyuga woman was giddy with joy. He was rumoured to be a man with looks that would put Gods to shame. Plus, he was a decorated hero of Konoha. The man was even more beautiful in person. He had an intense gaze and long charcoal black hair. He was polite, serious and so very attentive. But she was disappointed in how distant he seemed. During the first night of marriage, she had asked hesitatingly if he loved her. His serene expression tightened into something a little guarded. He didn't reply for a long time, turned away from her and said softly that he didn't. She tried to mask her evident sorrow and looked down. She knew that in the Hyuga very few people found marital love. To the Hyuga, the sole purpose of marriage was procreation while keeping the bloodline pure. She had foolishly expected a fairy tale romance from the stoic Hyuga hero. Then, he said softly, "Though I am happy, that I have such a pretty wife". Kagura jerked her head up to look at him in surprise. He coughed and averted his gaze in embarrassment. She smiled inwardly; it seemed that the human ice-berg that was Hizashi Hyuga had a soft side as well.
"My lord, Lord and Lady Hyuga have come to offer felicitations", said a footman from outside.
"Tell them that I shall be with them shortly.", said Hizashi
-x-
A few days later
There was a soft knock on Hanako's window. She knew who it was without using Byakugan.
"Hizashi.", she said breathlessly, letting him enter her bedchamber through the window.
"Why are you here?", she said knowing the answer.
"…", Hizashi didn't reply just gazed at her. That eerie expressionless gaze that made grown men tremble.
However, it made Hanako tremble for a different reason altogether.
-x-
The following morning
Hizashi woke up groggily hearing a commotion early in the morning. He had returned just before dawn from Hanako's chambers. Suddenly he was jolted wide awake. The commotion was coming from outside his wife's chambers. He ran post haste to her quarters.
"What's all this racket about?", he said sharply.
The servants remained mute averting their gaze from him.
"What happened?", he said panicking a little.
When no one answered, he ran into the bedchamber and was met with a scene from his nightmares. There was blood everywhere on the sheets, soaked into the mattress. His wife's deathly pale face was serene. Her hands lay limply by her side. She was gone.
Hizashi sank down on his knees. Disbelief was etched into his features. Then it came: waves upon waves of guilt and remorse. The Human ice-berg Hizashi Hyuga silently wept that day.
-x-
"You have my condolences", said Fugaku Uchiha softly.
Hizashi kept his silence. He had no wish to engage the irascible Uchiha clan-leader in any sort of dialogue. They had been on missions together before as Chunins, and they never got along. Hizashi had been on the recieving end of Fugaku's Choler more than once. If Hizashi was taciturn and aloof, Fugaku was harsh, haughty and condescending. Plus, the fact that there was a perpetual cold war between the Uchihas and Hyugas didn't help at all.
Hizashi, crazed with grief, had stormed the Hokage's office a day after Kagura's funeral and demanded that he be dispatched to the first S-class mission on Lord-Hokage's roster. Fugaku Uchiha had been there discussing the news that a handful of Orochimaru's sound-nins had dug themselves a hard point in a part of the forest outside Konoha and were beginning to attack Leaf ninja passing them by. The Hokage granted Hizashi permission to flush the sound-nins out of their foxholes and eliminate them. However he had insisted that Fugaku should acompany him on the mission. Fugaku knew the reason. There was rumour floating about Konoha that the younger Hyuga twin had lost his wife to Uterine-haemorrhage after childbirth. Not that any Hyuga would ever admit it. The Hyuga were a clan whom, much like the Uchiha, valued their privacy greatly. He hadn't missed the manic expression on the Hyuga genius's face. Basically he was being sent on suicide watch. So here he was, silently helping Hizashi to rig a cluster of paper bombs to a trap. He cleared his throat and said,
"I had the pleasure of meeting Hyuga Kagura once during an inter-clan meeting and I found her to be an excellent person. You were truly fortunate to have been her husband."
Hizashi was exhausted from lack of sleep for three days. His wife's death and his infidelity was still heavy on his conscience. He would normally ignore any provocation on Fugaku's part. But somehow, his usual mask of cool indifference was beginning to crack. At the last bit, he lost his cool.
"Yes. My wife's dead. This news must tickle you pink with delight, doesn't it Uchiha? I know you hate us Hyuga, but this is low, even for you.", he spat bitterly.
"I also wish to congratulate you regarding the birth of your boy.", Fugaku said ingoring the venom in Hizashi's tone.
"...", Hizashi felt a pang of guilt thinking about the baby in the Hyuga nursery.
"Have you decided on a name?", said Fugaku continuing the one-sided conversation.
"Neji" said Hizashi in spite of himself.
"That is a very unusual name.", Fugaku said.
"Kagura liked to read a rather boring tome about Nejia martial arts.", said Hizashi as if that explained everything, "It's my way of remembering her. at least the boy will grow up know at least a little about his mother."