Hanami

Author: LonelyWriter42

Summary: The torment of Hinata's kiss is made worse by sakura viewing and wabi-sabi.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Neji and Hinata would already be married and have ten kids.

Standing in the middle of a bunch of giggling, gossiping women was not how Neji would have planned his day to go but there he was, standing under the blooming sakura trees following Hinata around as the hanami ceremony continued. The clear spring day had started out much like every other day of his life had started, he got up, he did stretching exercises, he meditated, and he showered and then ate breakfast with his mother. After that Gai, Lee, and Tenten had shown up and taken him to the training ground where he had unceremoniously defeated Lee once again then he had gone home for lunch, where his day started to get tricky.

He should have known from the start that something was going on when his mother told him that he had been summoned by his uncle and that he was supposed to clear his afternoon for whatever Hiashi wanted him for. Upon entering the main house he was greeted by the scary duo of Hanabi and her friend whose name escaped him and their creepy smiles. Hanabi had informed him that he was to go into his uncle's study and report to the man then meet her back in the foyer.

He had done as his cousin told him and when his uncle smiled brightly upon seeing his nephew Neji knew his day was going to go bad. He had detached himself from emotions then because he knew if he didn't he would end up thoroughly frustrated with everyone and thing and might start punching people he didn't know. Hiashi's order hadn't been as bad as it could have been he realized but it was still nothing close to what he thought he would be doing when he woke that morning.

The sakura trees surrounding the Nakano River were in full bloom and Hinata and Hanabi wished go and view them, Hiashi had said, and Neji would accompany them to make sure nothing happened to them. He had agreed but he had not realized that every female in Konoha was going to be there. With a sigh he listened to the pesky blonde on his right jabber on and on how pretty the pink blossoms were and how she wished that one day she would be married under the rain of sweet smelling petals.

Hinata was only a few feet away but it felt as if a thousand miles were between them. That afternoon two weeks ago had left him confused to her feeling since she had pushed him away again and acted as if nothing had happened. Lee had been on the receiving end of his anger after that and had tried in vain to figure out what was wrong with his friend. Tenten had then become involved but he refused to tell either because he knew they would think it weird to be in a relationship with a cousin, and maybe they were right, but damn it all he wanted to grab Hinata and force her to make up her mind one way or the other.

Ino moved in the way of his line of vision and he pushed forward so he was behind his cousin again. Sakura who was standing a few feet away was watching him intently and when he sent her a glare she smiled back. He suppressed a sigh. Had he been acting so transparently all day that the pink haired kunoichi had noticed his distraction when it came to Hinata? He certainly hoped not and if it was true... He didn't want to think about that possibility. But if she had it would all be Hinata's fault for being so damn indecisive in the first place. He was clenching his hand into a fist when he realized he had been arguing circles in his own mind. Surely that counted as mentally unbalanced and he should check himself into Konoha Hospital as soon as possible but he wasn't going to, at least not until he had forced a reasonable answer out of Hinata.

The hostess, some cranky old lady with a sour expression like she had been sucking on lemons, turned and glared at him when he tried to push his way back next to his cousin. He didn't care though. Hiashi-sama had instructed Neji to watch over his two cousins and he was going to do just that, little old ladies notwithstanding. His train of thought abruptly crashed when Hinata placed her hand on his arm to calm him. He glanced down at her and she smiled up at him before moving away. His arm felt as if it was on fire and he noticed that that damned Sakura was watching him and smiling at him. He took a step back and allowed the women stream around him so they could look at the trees.

For the rest of the afternoon he stared at his cousin's back from the very end of the line of women wondering just how she had managed to get inside his head like that. The only other person who was able to access his emotions so easily like that was his mother and even she had a hard time making him open up. He shot the back of Hinata's head a glare as he continued brooding over his responses to Hinata's actions. Sure she had kissed him, but he had kissed other girls before and never felt like his world was thrown unceremoniously into chaos.

Near the end of the Hanami he finally had the epiphany that he was the one driving himself crazy over the whole kiss business and Hinata hadn't given that kiss a second thought. But that realization made him feel even worse and his old grumpiness with Hinata came to the surface. He had managed to get both his cousins back inside the Hyūga compound and had followed Hinata back to her room before he allowed his anger to get the best of him.

Hinata had tried to close the door to her room but he pushed past her. He turned his best glare on her and said in his harshest voice, "Why do you keep tormenting me?" He paused only for a second when he realized those were not the words he had wanted to come out of his mouth but he plowed ahead anyway. "Do you think that I am some sort of plaything?" Again he paused when he realized his words made no sense with the point he was trying to get at and by the look on his cousin's face, she had no idea what he was saying, either.

"Nii-san," she started with a frown but he cut her off.

"Every day I get up and wonder what new hell that you and the main house had invented for me to go through today and I must congratulate you, you have come up with the worst one possible," his eyebrow twitched and he could feel that vein in his forehead that started pulsing when he was angry growing larger. To Hinata's defense she still looked completely perplexed and had started chewing on her bottom lip as she contemplated his words.

"I am not sure what it is that has you so up in arms, Nii-san," she said in a faint voice, "But I shall try my hardest not to upset you anymore. Please excuse me," she whispered as she rushed passed him and out the door.

Neji was left just as perplexed as she had been at the start of the conversation until he thought back over his words. Then he started to mentally kick himself. Poor innocent Hinata had no idea why he had said those things to her, it had been his overly hyped up state of mind that had caused him to say those things to her without an explanation as to why he was angry with her. He felt his eyebrow twitch again. She was driving him crazy without even knowing what she was doing.

He rubbed his hand wearily over his face and groaned. He always knew that the main house had set out to drive him crazy and they had successfully deployed their greatest weapon without him ever suspecting it.