Disclaimer: I do not own Neji, Hinata…or anybody else in the Naruto universe…I sure wish I did, but I don't…

italics – thought

Concequences of Choices: Chapter 2

Hinata lied awake on her bed enjoying her silent moment. She woke up about an hour before but too lazy to get out from her comfort bed. Life would be perfect if she just lay like this no need to rush on doing everything, or no scold when she got late attending something. But, of course something like that would never going to happen to her. She was no princess. She grazed on her the clock on the bedside table and

'URGHH NO' it was time to go already.

She didn't have much time to get ready for her activity today, training with her cousin. She was going to get scolded if she came late. Her cousin was very strict about discipline. She got dress quickly and went to the kitchen bringing the tray of her untouched dinner and placed it on the table then had a bite of toast and drunk a glass of water quickly. After that she ran to the training ground. Her cousin was already there doing some warm up movements. She slowed her pace standing a few feet away behind him, watched his every moves with amazement. Was she ever be able to move perfectly just like he did every time he demonstrate a new technique for her to do. Not in a million years. But, at least she had tried her best in her days of training with him, to meet his (high) standards.

"Hinata-sama, you're here finally," his voice brought her back from her daydream-land. He stood still in front of her, his back facing her, finished all his warming up movements just a second ago when she was still drown in her thought. Looking up at him she gave an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, I'm late Neji-niisan."

"That's alright. Let's start now." he said indifferently then motioned her to come beside him. He studied her feature for a few seconds without her knowing it, realized that something was different with her today. He set aside that idea quickly, since that was absolutely none of his business.

"Hai," was her short answer.

She activated her Byakugan, discovered his chakra concentration points promptly then proceeded to attack. She aimed to hit the pressure points at his arm, her moves was elegant and flowing. He dodged her attack easily then continued to strike back at her.

They continued to spar for some times, he wanted to know how much she had developed since their last training, couple of weeks ago. His moves were fast and directed to her critical organs, she tried to block it every now and then and sent some punch to his direction but to no avail, the attack in his technique was perform at a much higher speed than the 64 Palms, making it even dangerous. Thinking that she couldn't take it anymore, she retreated. Hands on her chest. Breathing heavily and sweating.

He stopped in process, walked closer to her. "What happened Hinata-sama? Got tired already?" he asked her casually, no hint of exhaustion in his voice. She looked up at him, said nothing to calm down her breathing.

"Gomen, Neji-niisan… but-but you moved so fast… I can barely see your strike." she managed to answer him honestly after a few minutes. He gave her a frustration look, studied her feature closely and seriously making her uneasy. She opened her mouth but then closed it again, considered that it would better if she just listened to him now. She was so exhausted to argue at the moment.

"That's too bad, Hinata-sama. We still have 20 minutes left and I don't want to waste it," Anyway she was not surprised with his answer. She knew it that he was going to say something like that. She sighed, today's training was surely tough.

"But we'll work on your endurance now, we have enough sparring for today. Besides we don't have much time left for a new technique."

He joined her to run a few laps around the Hyuuga compound. She was always being worn out after the training session with her cousin. Either he pushed her too hard or she was just too weak to keep up with him. Who was she kidding with, of course she couldn't keep up with him, not with the infamous Hyugaa prodigy.

He trained her infrequently, because he was busy with his mission and other assignment as Jounin. It was because of her father request to train her that he was training her now. Maybe it was just once in a week or two, or even months when he was away for a long high risk mission. A few hours of training with him was harder than all week training with her team mates put together. It wasn't that she didn't get all serious when she trained with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, it was just she always became anxious around him and an awkward situation wasn't help her to improve the new technique he taught. She felt so stupid. The fact that her cousin was about to kill her during the chuunin exam four years ago was no longer an issue for her since he already apologized to her and she forgave him saying that it was exam situation and she could understand how he felt at that time or maybe she was just too kind.

However he was Hyuuga Neji after all. He was less unfriendly and warmed up to her than his old self yet it seemed that he was still so far away. Which means never got a change to have a pleasant chat or convivial or in this matter brother-sister-ly conversation.

After a few laps, he ended their training. She was already worn out, her legs wobbled it could barely hold her body. He handed her a towel, which took her by surprise, but she took it anyway, maybe he was just trying to be nice to her.

"I think it's enough for today, Hinata-sama. We'll continue our training tomorrow." his words echoed in her ear.

"We have to t-train again t-tomorrow, Neji-niisan?" she asked him for not believing her ears, because they just never train in row like this.

"Yes, we'll train again tomorrow. Is that a problem, Hinata-sama?" he furrowed his brow hearing her question.

"No, it's not like that," she was unsure what to say next but she nodded her head and said "hai".

"I think you have improved, Hinata-sama. But your endurance… you need to work more on that. You'll get killed easily by your enemy if you can't fight them just because you're too exhausted to do so. Endurance is vital. If you get tired, you lose. Understand that, Hinata-sama." she thought that her cousin was always having a good time lecturing her in the end of their training.

"I-I'm sorry, Neji-niisan." he was always like that, first he spoke well about her progress then he criticized her meticulously. And she would end up saying sorry to him.

"Don't be sorry Hinata-sama. Just try to do better next time." he said briefly.

"I-I'm ss… Thank you for your advice, Neji-niisan," oops, thanks god she didn't say sorry again, or else maybe he would lash out at her.

He dismissed her. End of the training for today. She sighed, felt relieved.

She returned to her room to get another shower to wash away all the sweat and dirt. It was already noon when she finished. She laid on her bed thinking about her training with Neji today. She wished that she was a stronger and better kunoichi so that her family would not look down on her. She wished that she could stand in line with the other Konoha ninjas and also her cousin. She had trained hard in the last four years but she still felt the same weak and hopeless. Then again, after the lost of her childhood dream in the form of Uzumaki Naruto she came to the same conclusion that she was no good in everything she did. But a person was born for a reason, right. And she definitely was born for a reason. So her life wasn't going to be miserable forever like what she had gone through. But a girl could change right. Although she no longer had a dream at this moment she could still find another dream. Something that made her worth living. Something that would make her happier. Even so it sounded impossible to her own ears. She sighed sleepily, closed her eyes trying to get some sleep before dinner, but her stomach growled in protest, that forced her to get up from her bed and paced feebly to the kitchen.

Entered the kitchen she startled to find Neji eating quietly.

"Good afternoon, Neji-niisan," she greeted him. He just nodded his head. She looked around the room to find something what left for lunch.

"There's some food left in the box above the microwave. I think it's for you because you missed lunch." he pointed the direction with his finger and continued eating.

"Thank you, Neji-niisan. Do you mind if I join you here?"

She wasn't sure why she said that she could just take the box and ate it in her room. But no, she didn't do that. To polite to do that. Okay, it wasn't like eating with the enemies, she told herself. Then there she was in the kitchen with her cousin, both eating silently. They sat facing each other but no words exchanged. Another awkward situation. Neji-niisan, why it was always so hard to find my voice, my courage when you were near?

There, in the kitchen two cousins sat against each other, but no words were spoken.

tbc…

A/N: So that's the second chappie. This was stil unbeta, if you find grammatical errors here and there please bear with me… Feedbacks for this chapter are much appreciated.

and thank you to all who read and reviewed the first chapter, especially for Krysti Ryou Auzuki for being nit-picky and all (did you get my email?) .