Disclaimer: You guys know I don't own Naruto, if I did Neji and Hinata would be dating!!!!!!!!!

After hearing the news, Hinata simply bowed and left the room. She couldn't stand being in the same room with her father at the time. She was only 19 and being forced to choose a husband. She wasn't really against the idea of marriage she just felt that the process took more time then the amount she was given.

Hinata blindly walked to her room, just missing a few maids who bowed to show their respect. She lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The first thought that came to her mind was…

"I should just let Hinabi become head; she's much more fit than I."

She quickly dismissed those thoughts; she had worked too hard to rid the coward label to turn back now. She would fulfill her duties as future head of the family. So she thought down the list of candidates and found the list to be extremely short. With the exception of the branch family she had only knew one Hyuuga male. And he was defiantly was not the right choice for he was only half her age. This was not working out well. She didn't even begin to know how to go about this. She was always good with people, except of course the Hyuuga head family who had always treated her as if she was from mars or something. She needed to vent, she needed someone to talk to, someone who would understand and before she could even think of a person, there was knock on her door.

Hinata asked, "Who is it?"

She was really out of it. She was usually able to tell who was at the door from their Chakra signal but today, her give a damn was too broke to even try to figure it out.

She heard a deep voice say

"Neji"

She quickly did a scan of her room to be sure that it was presentable enough, she ran over and stacked the scrolls that she had been reading over a few hours earlier, after she was satisfied with the way her room looked she called out,

"Come in Neji-nii-san"

Neji opened the door, and was greeted with Hinata's smile. He walked into the room and bowed slightly to show respect, and then there was sort of an awkward silence. Her room smelled of flowers, lilacs to be exact. If Neji wasn't mistaken the last time he came in here, there was a different smell of flowers in her room, possibly Petunias.

Hinata said "n-Neji-nii-san, what brings you here"

She then thought of the main reason he was probably here…

"You wouldn't happen to have someone in mind for my husband do you? Because I'm at a lost"

Hinata forced a smile and Neji watched her try to keep her emotions in check. She wasn't doing a very good job. Her lips were quivering, her eyes were wet with future tears, and you could tell with every breath she took she was one step closer to letting the tears wet her face.

He said "no Hinata-sama, I have no one in mind… I just thought you might have something you want to talk about."

Hinata looked at him and smiled. She realized that he has been getting nicer, At least to her. Maybe he feels sorry for the worthless heir who can't do anything by herself; she even needed help choosing her own husband!

"Arigato, Neji-nii-san, you were right I do need someone to talk to."

Her smile was shaky and she looked like the old Hinata, weak and uncertain of herself. She tried to hide it but Neji could see right through her fake smile and he knew she was feeling weak and out of control and if anyone understood that it would be Neji.

For as long as he was living, Neji had not been in control of his own life. All of his life he had been a servant to the Hyuuga family, and for most of his life he had hated them for it. And the person, who suffered the most wraths from him, was Hinata. He had hated her more than anyone else. Hated her for what she stood for, hated her for what she would become, hated her for being weak, and he hated her for being her.

But after Hiashi had explained what really happened to his father, Neji had started to realize that even though the way the Hyuuga's handled the whole family thing was not good, he did realize that it wasn't all bad, and at least he had been respected. The reason why he respected Hinata more than any other Hyuuga was because even though she was a head family member she was treated like dirt by everyone, she was used, yelled at, and told she wasn't good enough on a daily basis. But even after all that she still smiled, and was happy no matter what she went through, she loved and respected everyone.

The main reason Neji likes Hinata is because they are a lot alike. No, not in the way they acted of course but the way they lived. Neji had lost his father early on but at least he still had a mother that cared for and loved him, Hinata however lost her mother a year after Hinabi was born, the only one who had ever shown any real love for her was her mother, but she died and Hinata was stuck with her mean and disrespectful father, who only shows Hinata his hatred. Neji was expected to serve the head family, but Hinata was expected to serve the head and branch family and was scorned for it. Neji had worked hard everyday and was called a genius for it, but Hinata worked hard everyday and she was told she was not good enough. So Neji couldn't help but think they were alike and she had it worst off than he did. That's why Neji watches her closely and doesn't mind doing things for her.

Hinata was sitting on the bed holding a bear that her mother had bought her for being a good big sister towards Hinabi. She stilled refused to cry, she was done with that. Neji sat on the chair that was at Hinata's desk, and didn't say anything until she was ready to talk.

"You know I'm not surprised that this happened."

Neji looked at her and didn't say anything waiting for her to continue.

"Father had always expected me to be weak, but I'm the first born so it was just a matter of time before he married me off to someone who's fit to run the family. And truthfully I'm not really angry with him. He's just doing his job as head of the family."

Hinata forced a smile. And Neji knew every smile that she had shown that day had been forced and unnatural. Except maybe that smile she gave him when she first greeted him and her father.

Neji couldn't help but ask, "Hinata-sama, do you not want to get married?"

Hinata thought about the question and answered truthfully.

"You know Neji-nii-san it doesn't really matter what I want. It never has mattered what I wanted. Things never seemed to go my way before so eventually I just stopped having a preferred way all together. I figured if I just do what the family says and try my best to get better then maybe, just maybe, I could at least end up pleasing someone. If I could just please one person, it doesn't even matter who it is, I would be so happy. So if my marriage pleases my father then to the alter I go."

She ended that angst filled paragraph with a forced giggle to try and lighten the mood. But before she knew what was happening she had a very hot, very uncontrollably wave of tears come down her face. She couldn't help herself. She told herself many times that she would not cry. She told herself many times, that what she wanted did not matter. She told herself many times, that the more she cried the more weak she became. But she couldn't help it. The tears were like a river and the dam had been broken. She grabbed her pillow and put her face into it to try and muffle the noises. Neji searched around in his pouch until he found what he was looking for; a very balled up and wrinkly handkerchief, he cursed himself mentally for not washing it like he started to last week, but for now it would have to do.

Neji walked over to Hinata and gently pulled the pillow off her face and used the handkerchief to clean it for her. On his knees so that he could be on her level, He looked at her intensely.

He said "crying is okay Hinata-sama, when you feel you need to, its okay"

She took the handkerchief from him and did a yes jester with her head.

"Arigato, nii-san, the only problem with that is, I promised myself I was done crying, done caring about my own selfish wishes."

"Hinata-sama, if you don't care about your own wishes, who else will care about them?"

Hinata laughed ironically

"You know Neji-nii-san no one has ever cared about my wishes before, I would be a fool if I expected them to start now, or ever for that matter"

Hinata glanced at the Mirror and looked at her appearance, her eyes were red and puffy, the front of her hair was sticking up, her lips were dark red and swollen from her biting to stop the loud sobs, there were dried tear streaks on her face to prove that tears had indeed been present, and her face was tomato red from the embarrassment of crying in front of her no nonsense cousin. Her appearance was appalling!

She looked at Neji who was still sitting on his knees at her feet and pointed to the mirror and smiled her first real smile of the day.

"Look at that mirror, proof that crying makes you weak, because, not only does it make you weak it makes you ugly!"

She laughed for the first time all day. It felt like years since the last time. It was almost as beautiful as her singing. Music to Neji's ears.

Neji thought to himself "I don't think she could ever be ugly. It's not possible"

After her realized what he was thinking he blushed. It wasn't a noticeable blush. A person would need more than a byakugan to see it, but it was defiantly there. He knew because his cheeks grew just a little warmer.

He quickly got a hold of himself and said

"Hinata- sama, I am glad that you are feeling better."

He rose off his knees and looked at her, and revealed that barely a smile, smile and said

"I will take my leave now unless of course you have anything else that needs discussing"

For some reason Hinata did not want him to leave, but she was unable to come up with a plausible reason to ask him to stay so with a heavy heart and a forced smile she said

"No, Neji-nii-san I don't need anything else, arigato gozaimasu for listening to me."

Neji bowed and turned to leave. Hinata watched him go and thought she could use a nice long bath to get her mind off things. She went to the bathroom and thought about the past events. She wondered why Neji had become so nice to her. She had done nothing but inconvenience him, so she certainly did not deserve his kindness. And it was always rare to see him being nice to anyone why had she been special? Not that she was ungrateful for his kindness she just didn't understand it. But not understanding Neji was not a new thing to Hinata.

After her bath she decided that going about he life as normal is a good idea so she left her room and went to her garden. She wanted to be sure that no harm had come to the flowers. She went out side and got to her garden and it was still fine but she wanted to plant some new flowers because she needed new ingredients to complete the new medicine she had been trying out. Once she perfected it the medicine would heal wounds better than the medicine that she had made previously. It smelled better, stopped the pain, and restored the Chakra level of whoever used it. It really was coming along nicely the only problem with it, is that it made the chakra level to high and it could be dangerous unless the person had little to no chakra at all. So it was fine for dire situations, but not for regular everyday cuts.

She was nearing Ino's flower shop when Shikamaru walked up and said the Hokage needed to speak with her. Hinata bowed to him as he walked away lazily mumbling something about how troublesome it was to have to replace the Hokage's attendant because she was sick.

After Shikamaru was off, Hinata disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared in The Hokage's office. She bowed immediately to the women and waited to hear what she had been called for.

The woman smiled at Hinata. Because she was the Hokage she paid close attention to all her villager's. The women liked Hinata. She was amazed at how a person so talented was always so modest about everything. Hinata could do anything that she wanted to do yet she was always so quiet and never made her talents known unless it was necessary. But now it was necessary.

The Woman spoke up

"Hinata, I have called you here because I have a mission for you. I am well aware of your family situation, however, I think this mission causes for you expertise. "

Hinata blushed slightly. She thought "Expertise? What expertise?"

"You will be protecting a family of three, a queen and her two children. Their country is at war and they need to be relocated as soon as possible to the cloud village. The king has ordered our protection. This is a B rank mission however I am sending you alone because I believe you can handle it. The mission starts tomorrow, be well rested. It should take no longer that a week maybe shorter depending on how you handle it. Here is the map you will need for the mission, dismissed"

Hinata bowed to the Hokage and left the room. It's been a while since she last went on a mission she was a bit excited. It defiantly would get her mind off of her problems. She went home. The first order of business was to tell her father. He needs to know everything about her. She can't even sneeze without letting her father know immediately after words.

After she got home she nervously walked to her father's room and knocked on his door. After a long wait he barked at the door…

"Who is it??"

"It's Hinata"

"Come in"

Hinata slowly opened the door and got yelled at for being too slow. She sped up a little and came in the room and bowed immediately.

"What is it that you need Hinata? I'm very busy."

"Sorry to bother you father, but I just wanted to inform you that the Hokage has sent me on a mission."

Her father looked at her with such an evil glare that she shuddered under his gaze. The look could burn a hole in steel but she had to stand her ground. After being silent for a few second Hiashi said…

"You do realize that you are to choose a husband in a six month time period?"

"Yes, father I realize that, but there was nothing I could do but accept the Hokage's request. She said it should not take longer than a week"

"Do what you must Hinata, but you are still responsible for the duties of this family, you are dismissed"

"Yes father, excuse the interruption"

Hinata bowed to her father and left the room.

She rushed down the hall to go get ready for the mission. She packed all the things she needed making sure to pack enough of her new and old ointment. You never know when there will be any technicalities. After her bag was packed she went down to the branch buildings to talk with some of the people there. Including Neji's mother who she had become quite close to over the years, in a way she took the place of her own dead mother.

She walked up to the woman and said

"Aunt Hana! How are you?"

"Hinata, you're looking as pretty as ever. How are you child?"

"I'm great! Tomorrow I have a mission just wanted to stop in and say goodbye to everyone."

"A mission, Huh? What is that woman thinking? She knows you have to find a husband."

"Actually… I can't wait to go on this mission! It's gotten so tense around this house…"

"It's always been tense around this house"

"I guess your right but I don't think it's always going to be like that. One day this family is going to get along… I just know it"

"Yeah, so you need to hurry up and find a husband so that you can become head of the family and put some of your ideas to use… I know why don't you marry Neji?"

Hinata blushed so hard that she thought her face would melt.

"I'm just kidding girl! I didn't think it was possible to blush that hard!"

There was a knock on the door. Both women knew who it was before they heard or seen anyone.

"Come in boy. Come see Hinata before she leaves on her mission."

Neji walked in the room and bowed to his mother and Hinata. If at all possible Hinata started to blush even harder. Neji looked at her with a raised eyebrow and then looked back at his mother. Hana said jokingly…

"Hinata how in the world are you a Ninja and you can't even hide your emotions?"

"B-but y-you…"

Neji just sat down he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was going on. His mother was known for being outrageous. And what ever she was in here doing to Hinata it had to concern him because she immediately became more embarrassed when he walked in.

Hana looked at her son. She began to wonder when he would wise up to the fact that he loved Hinata. It was so obvious to everyone that knew Neji! Well, except him and Hinata. She knew her son was no idiot, in fact, she was proud to say he was a genius, but she also knew that he could be a bit dense at times like this. And she Knew Hinata would not notice because she thinks Neji hates her. Hinata has always been dense about these type of situations as well, Hana Laughed to herself thinking about the time Hinata came to her yelling about how that Kiba boy had confessed His love for her. Hana had known the boy loved Hinata just from the stories Hinata told her of him, how Hinata had not known was still a mystery to her. She's been hinting at Neji and Hinata for a while now, that they were in love. But neither of them seems to be picking up the hints. And if she wasn't mistaken Hiashi wants them together as well. Why else would he ask Neji to help Hinata find a Husband? Of course, he wanted them together for selfish reasons. Hiashi was an idiot and he wanted them together because he felt Neji was more fit to run the Family than Hinata.

Hana said, "Guess what Neji! Hinata just got assigned to a "B" ranked mission. The Hokage said she thought Hinata was good enough to go on the mission on her own."

Hana was proud of Hinata. She and Hinata's Mother had been best friends when she was alive. And when Hinata's mother died she had took it upon herself to be there for Hinata, because after her husband died she knew what it was like to loose someone close.

Neji looked at Hinata and said in his normal tone "congratulations"

Hana grabbed Neji's nose and pinched it tightly. And yelled at him

"Can't you be a little happier than that?! Boy, don't make me get my paddle!"

Hinata tried not to laugh at her 20 year old, no nonsense cousin, getting in trouble with his mother.iashi was an idiot an d he wanted then Hi

Hana looked at Hinata a winked. Then she asked her

"Hinata what time you leaving tomorrow?"

"I was thinking of leaving at about 4:30. I want to get there early so we can leave early. It's better to travel when there's not many people around."

Well if that's the case you better get home and get to bed! You want to be well rested"

"Hai"

Hinata bowed to Neji and Hana and left for home, to get in the bed. After Hinata left, Neji looked at his mother with the "do I even want to know what happened" look. His mother looked at him innocently like she had not did nothing wrong.

A/Ns: okay people I know I promised more violence in this chapter but it just doesn't fit yet! But next chapter for sure! It got too long for me to talk anything about Hinata's mission so look for that in the next chapter. This story should be about 5 chapters that is if I can get my thoughts out quick enough… please keep reading. I know it's not the greatest story but I'm trying! critique hard so I know what to change.

A/N part 2: I fixed this one too. The reason I went back and fixed all of them was because this one had so many mistakes! I have most of chapter 4 done but it doesn't seem like there is many people reading so I'm wondering if I should update… maybe you guys should review a little more huh? And to the people who are reviewing thank you sooooooo much you're the greatest!!!! Keep on doing what your doing and critiquing that's important to me! I'm trying to get better here people!

Thanx for reading! Love you guys! Talk to you in chapter 4!