Finally! I'm updating at last. It may seem strange that I'm updating at all after over a year, but the holiday season is the perfect inspiration for this story. Sitting in my uncle's house on Christmas, I felt so much like Hinata. Poor girl...you aren't the only one with a dysfunctional family. I hope that this isn't disjointed from the last chapter. I can honestly say that I spent the better half of the afternoon hunched over my keyboard, chuckling and muttering to myself like a mad woman, while I wrote this little piece of fluffy goodness. With luck you'll find it humorous rather than incredibly creepy...

"Is that lip-gloss?" Hanabi cocked her head at me as a mischievous smile played on her lips. The back of my hand was wiping the sugary sweetness off my lips faster than you could say "chicken!" Figures, the one time I decide to do something impulsive, my little sister is there to laugh at me.

"No." Hanabi couldn't look more dubious if she tried. The immediacy of my response, and the trembling of my voice were not lost on her.

"Uh huh" Now she really was laughing. Not for the first time, I felt like the younger of the two of us. "Just wanted to see if you were alright. You really did look bad at dinner, and you and Neji never really have…well…" She looked uncertain, I decided to help her out.

"He's always really hated my guts." I managed to squeak out.

Hanabi was silent for a moment, surprised at my forwardness, "Yes, exactly. I—"

"HANABI, MY PRINCESS! WHERE IS MY PRETTY PRETTY PRINCESS?" My father's wail cut her short. Hanabi flushed a little, but turned to roll her eyes at me. I smiled hesitantly back.

"Better get going then…you know Dad." She chuckled embarrassedly.

"Yeah, b-but sometimes I wish I didn't." I cringed at the alarming crashes coming from downstairs, as my father continued to search for his "princess". I could just imagine the shocked face of Aunt Mildred as our stoic father cried for his baby daughter. Not good.

"I'LL SAVE YOU FROM THE EVIL BEAST, PRINCESS!"

"No, Hiashi not the china!"

As if contemplating how to best handle the situation, Hanabi stood there for a second indecisively before darting quickly down the stairs to sedate our father.

"Later!" She shouted as she descended to the first floor.

"Later." I whispered under my breath, knowing that she didn't expect a reply. I had just sunk back onto my bed when I was startled once again.

"I'm back, with the cards." Neji had entered and was now standing directly in front of me, with a stiffness that succeeded in ridding me of a few misgivings.

"Oh…great." Unfortunately, his stiffness couldn't cure my stumbling tongue. "Well then…um, we should, you know, play…"

"Yes." He said quickly. Neither of us moved. I was more aware than ever of the chocolate brown locks that fell to Neji's shoulders, leading my eye to his perfectly sculpted chest, where my gaze couldn't help but linger. 'I wonder what it would feel like to caress that chest with my fingers?' As soon as the thought surfaced in my mind I turned a deep cherry red. 'Hinata! You naughty girl. Don't go defiling your innocent cousin with your dirty thoughts!' I chided myself in an attempt to keep myself together, vigorously pushing out a second voice that uttered temptingly, 'How do you know he's not thinking the same thing?'

Seeming to realize suddenly that we could not play cards with him standing and me sitting, Neji plopped to the floor cross-legged. He looked so serene that I half suspected an "ohm" to escape his lips as I slid to a spot across from him.

Silence enveloped us once again. I bravely ventured forward.

"Um," was my genius attempt at conversation.

"We should play a game." Neji said hurriedly, tapping his beautifully calloused fingers on the cards in his lap.

"Crazy Eights!" In my nervousness, the words exploded from my mouth.

"Excuse me?" Neji looked perplexed. I felt like a complete idiot.

"I-It's a card game."

"Oh. I've never heard of it…"

"Well, um…we each get five cards, and you put the deck down and flip over the first card." Barely trusting myself, I reached out my hand for the deck. Neji handed it to me seriously, and I did my best to receive the cards without brushing his fingers. Just as I thought I had succeeded, half the deck slipped from my grasp onto the floor.

I watched, mesmerized, as Neji swept the cards up with one deliciously graceful movement and held my hand steady as he laid the rest of the deck softly in my palm. The sweetness of his touch sent shivers up and down my spine. I had to hold my breath to keep a gasp of surprise from escaping my lips.

The gesture seemed so intimate. I was aware of every callous, every crease and bend of muscle, every tendon in the gentle fingers that embraced my own. His eyes locked with mine, and as he opened his mouth to speak I was sure he was going to say something breathtaking, something that might change our relationship forever…

"The back of your hand is sticky."

Oh crap, oh crap crap crap. Of all the rotten luck! I will never wear lip-gloss in my life again!

"O-oh, it is…? How… strange. Must have…gotten something on it w-while I was eating. Yes, while I was eating…soup, maybe."

He looked at me strangely. I suddenly realized that we had not had soup that night. Instead of trying to explain myself (which I'm sure would've ended up in me making even more of a mess of things), I smiled crookedly at him and dealt five cards to us each. I set down the deck between us deliberately and turned over the first card.

"A-alright um…you can put down a matching card, or one of the same suit. W-we take turns…um the first one to lose all their cards wins the game." That's it, I'm sure I covered everything.

"Interesting. Why is the game called Crazy Eights?" His question, of course, pointed out the exact thing I had forgotten to explain.

I rushed to cover for my error, "That's because eights can change the suit to whatever you like. Say, the current suit is diamonds, and you only have hearts. Put down your eight, and say 'hearts' and I have to put down a heart or change the suit again with an eight."

"I see." Neji's expression remained as smooth as glass. "I think I now understand."

"G-good then, would y—"

"Hinata-sama," Neji's bent his head to the floor as he bowed to me with the utmost respect, "Would you do me the honor of accepting my challenge in this game of cards?"

Jesus Christ, Neji does have a way of making things more difficult.

Alright...so...was my humor a bit off? I think so too...although I almost peed myself with the sticky hand stuff. (I am such a weirdo.) All in all, it was great fun to write, and I want to write more! I will write more. This is far from over. I'll be damned if Hinata doesn't get to touch Neji's muscular chest at least once...I swear, I'm not a pervert! Anyways, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, your encouragement and advice were instrumental in the making of this chapter! Please continue to tell me your thoughts. (Last time I even got a few flames from anonymous reviewers, woohoo!) I'll be waiting for your feedback as I lurk in my evil lair, muahaha!

Lovingly (aka creepily) yours,

Alerting Alliteration