This will be my last update for quite a while (two weeks or so) for I am being shipped off to what I hope is a very satisfying experience of music camp in Toronto. I shall be gone for two weeks or more, so I shall say my adieus to you by adding a bit of humor in this next piece of my fic.
WARNING! Intended OOCness from Neji. He too has a sense of humor, though well does he hide it, so we rarely see it until now. Please do not flame on account of OOCness, because it was intended.
Chapter 24: Change of Heart
The Next Day
Neji strode swiftly to the door of Hiashi's study, knocking gently and letting himself in. His uncle looked up, then set down his papers and folded his hands over themselves, cupping his chin in his palm.
"You wish to speak with me?" Neji nodded and took a seat across from his uncle.
"Hiashi…I have something I must confess to you, something quite crucial and something I hope you will accept with an open mind." Hiashi's expression was unreadable.
"Continue." He showed no sign of relenting, which rather disconcerted the younger Hyuuga. Taking a deep breath, Neji surged ahead, looking anywhere but Hiashi's eyes, taking as little time as possible between words.
"Do you remember the servant you gave me, a long time ago?" Hiashi nodded, not comprehending the situation.
"His name was Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. And as with all due respect, I must confess that this next portion of news I must disclose will not please you in any way." Hiashi's deadpan expression didn't change in the least.
"I must confess…" and here Neji hesitated, searching for the right words. It was now or never. He could not delay any longer; the moment was here, and he had to take it.
"I must confess that I've fallen in love with him."
He lowered his head, refusing to meet his uncle's eyes for fear of what lay inside. He suddenly felt his Hiashi's piercing stare on the top of his head, almost as if the older Hyuuga were seeing right through him without actually seeing him in a way of noticing his presence. Hiashi's gaze bore calm fury; that Neji could feel. He could feel his uncle's silent disapproval, and a tinge of shock in the gaze suggesting that Hiashi hadn't quite grasped what had been said to him. When he spoke, however, his voice was as calm and impassive as normal.
"Please repeat what you have just said." Neji felt a surge of uneasiness run up his spine.
"I must confess that I've fallen in love with Uzumaki Naruto." Hiashi nodded, letting the silence draw on. Neji tried his best to remain still in his seat, still gracing the rim of Hiashi's desk with an intense stare.
"When have you decided that you feel affection towards your ward?" Neji managed not to wince. He would've preferred it if Hiashi had screamed, yelled, anything but speak in that maddenly emotionless tone of his.
"It happened over a long period of time, Hiashi." Hiashi nodded slowly.
"I see. Are you well aware that I've spent hours upon hours searching for a wife for you, a suitable wife that will bring you children, honor, and prosperity?" Neji dreaded this conversation. It was only just beginning though; the best he could do was wait it out and for god's sake, keep a firm grip on his already slipping temper.
"Yes, uncle."
"And are you well aware that taking on a male lover will reduce your status in society down to rock bottom, prevent you from achieving an heir, and completely dishonor our family altogether?" Neji's nails scrabbled frantically at the last shreds of his temper.
"I am well aware of that, Hiashi-sama; however, I am willing to forfeit all that I have to remain with Naruto." As the last word slipped out of his mouth, he felt his precious self-control shatter into a million fragments, cascading in shards down at his feet. The next negative comment from Hiashi was sure to make him explode. His uncle, however, beat him to it.
"Neji, we will find you a wife, and you will continue to live the way you are, producing an heir and bringing reputation to the Hyuuga family." Hiashi roared.
"Have you given no thought to what I said to you yesterday, uncle?" Neji shot back sharply, outrage written all over his face.
"Why can you not get it across your bullheaded brain that I have wants, needs, and desires that range far from the Hyuuga business? I am a human after all. I am not some emotionless automaton that does exactly what its master wishes without any consideration to its own nonexistent emotions, unlike you!" Hiashi recoiled, then drew himself up to his full height, making an imposing figure indeed.
"How dare you speak of me that way?" Neji lowered his voice to a low, faint hiss.
"How dare I, uncle? How dare I? Because it is the truth. I at least have the capacity to love, whereas I highly doubt you bear the emotion in the frozen crevices of your heart." Hiashi let out a scoff.
"Love? I scorn the mere word. Emotions only get in the way of doing one's job."
Neji drew back, surprised. He felt his rage packed its bags and left on a permanent vacation. He had no idea….he had no idea that the man before him, a giant in society, the very epitome of a successful business was such a sad and sorry excuse for a pathetic man too far gone in the whims of money to care about love, the most essential thing in the world. He felt his fists unclench, his face soften.
"I am sorry, Hiashi. I….I had no clue…" A triumphant smile flashed across Hiashi's face.
"So you are starting to see sense." Neji shook his head sadly.
"No, my uncle. I've just never seen someone so pitifully sad and pathetic as to not know what love, the most significant thing one can harbor, is." Gracing his uncle with a truly sincere look that positively bled profound amounts of pity, Neji rose and slowly let himself out of the room.
He closed the door with a snap, turning and walking with his eyes cast downward (never had the designs on the lush velvet carpeting of the floor seemed so mesmerizing) towards the gardens, towards the sakura tree he knew a certain blond would be waiting for him under. Stepping out into the gardens, he relished the breeze of fresh air that hit him full in the face, inhaling the heady scent of nothingness before catching sight of a trademark nest of unruly blond hair, lilting music wafting on the breeze as a result of his flute. Lips curving up in a soft smile, Neji picked his way through the many blades of long grass, coming to rest beside Naruto. The blond looked up, taking his lips from his instrument, clear cerulean eyes widening in curiosity.
"So how did it go?" Neji shook his head.
"He didn't take it too well, but better than I expected." Naruto grinned toothily.
"It's okay. It takes time when one is faced with news so out of the ordinary." The Hyuuga nodded and a period of comfortable silence spanned out as they lay together in the lush grasses that lined the sakura tree.
"Uhm….Neji?" The Hyuuga turned.
"Yes?" Naruto fidgeted nervously and looked down, toying with his fingers. The tension in the air shot up suddenly, increasing in leaps and bounds. The blond could've been doing the nasty with Neji right at the moment, and it wouldn't have contained an ounce of the tentative, nervous, neurotic union shared so intimately between them.
"Now that I'm officially your….uhm…..lover, does that mean I have to…uhm…er….no wait, well…..actually that is…" Neji laughed and ruffled Naruto's hair, slipping a sinewy arm around his waist and pulling him closer so that his head rested on his chest.
"You will choke on your words if you don't spit them out soon." Naruto turned five different shades of crimson, in colors so rare any artist would've crawlen over a bed of staples to get to.
"Well….I, er….what I mean is…." The blush deepened so that the blond positively resembled a ripe strawberry. Neji chuckled inwardly, watching him squirm with a sort of perverse pleasure before prompting him along.
"Yes?" Naruto took a deep breath rushed on hurriedly.
"Dowehavetogetmarriednowthatwereacouple?" Neji cocked his head, a bit perplexed.
"What?" Naruto took a deep breath, suddenly finding an extreme interest in the bug that was crawling up his leg.
"Do we have to get married now that we're a couple?" Much to his surprise and somewhat humiliation, the Hyuuga burst out laughing.
"Of course not, you little devil. We can remain lovers; besides, I find it hard to imagine you in a billowing, flowery wedding dress." The very thought sent Neji into paryoxyms of laughter once more. Naruto could feel the heat wafting from his cheeks, toasting the fine cloth of Neji's shirt.
"Oh….okay." Naruto reached up and brushed his lips briefly across Neji's, standing up and bounding off to visit Konohamaru. Neji watched him go, traces of mirth still in his voice. With the blond, it was forbidden to be bored indeed.
The Next Day
"Hiashi-sama wishes to see you again, Neji-sama." Lee bowed and exited the room. Neji sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples, feeling another surge of aggravation shoot through his nerve endings before standing up. The Hyuuga quickly pulled on a pale-blue shirt, taking out his irritation on his hair, raking a comb haphazardly through the silky onyx locks. Shaking his head to drive any renegade strands back into line, Neji stalked furiously to Hiashi's study, rage growing with every long stride he took. He stopped outside the door and knocked none too gently on the fine polished mahogany, waiting not for permission but instead rudely barging in and successfully interrupting his uncle's conversation with the man before him. Protocol and manners be damned, he was pissed beyond the point of salvation. Hiashi's brows knotted together in a diapproving frown.
"Neji, don't you know better to wait for permission before you enter?"
Hiashi's tone of voice still suggested he was highly disgusted at having a queer for a nephew. Neji's scowl fought to deepen, but he forced it back, gracing his uncle with a glacial look. If Hiashi wanted a queer, then by God, he would get one. He didn't give two whoops in Hades if the man before him got a bad impression; in fact, the Hyuuga would rather prefer it if he did. Pasting an overly cheerful look on his countenance, Neji tried to recall some of Sakura's feminine ways.
The hair flip, for one. Gods, she flipped back her hair so many times in one minute, it was a wonder she wasn't bedridden for a sore neck. He'd have to try that. Swinging his head from side to side to ensure the flippiest hair he could muster, he flipped, wrenching his neck in great (and extremely painful) curlicues so his hair fell in great billowing clouds of midnight around his body, draping unceremoniously around his clothes.
With another toss of his head to send his hair back to its usual position behind his back, he skipped (SKIPPED for god's sake) in an overly enthusiastic way over to his uncle's side, a cheek-stretching smile pasted across his face. Running in the loudest possible way he could run, he latched onto Hiashi's horrified arm, rubbing his face in the folds of his uncle's shirt much to Hiashi's horror and the man's discomfort. Breathing in, Neji grinned toothily and hitched up his voice several octaves to a point where Kiba's dogs down in their kennels positively howled at the sound.
"Oh, Hiashi, my dear, DEAR uncle, I simply must apologize for my RUDE behavior," It was all his uncle could do to keep from recoiling. Neji secretly smirked, enjoying the look of pure chagrin written across Hiashi's features. The man opposite him wasn't faring any better.
"But you see, my DEAR uncle, I just HAD to talk to you. You are my most trusted relative, whom I love so dearly, and I just HAD to come to you for some, oh, what was it now…." And here Neji paused dramatically, shooting a doe-eyed overly shiny look in his uncle's general direction, pinching himself under the table to keep from laughing and to bring enough tears to his eyes to make them extra shiny.
"Boy Problems."
Neji hiked up his voice several more octaves to the point that the horrible grating sound bounced off the spacious walls and echoed back on itself, coagulating together to form a very macabre sound. Hiashi did his best not to strangle his nephew, though the temptation was great. He tried to calm himself, failing miserably. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe period. He spoke the next words through tightly clenched teeth.
"Well, Neji, why don't you wait until I finish with this cli-ent?"
The last word was forced so hard, Hiashi could feel it shoot through the door of his study. His nephew seemed unfazed though, giving him another seventeen-billion-watt smile and latched on even tighter, once more flipping back his hair and sticking out his bottom lip in a pout.
"Pweeeeeeeze, uncle dear?" It was so out-of-character, Neji made a mental note to push the current situation out of sight and mind for the next fifteen or so years to prevent further brain damage.
"Neji," Hiashi tried his best to disclose his teeth.
"But uncle dear, I've been having these extremely strange dreams, not exactly unpleasant, and when I wake UP, I always find a LARGE, WET SPLOTCH on my bedspread."
This wasn't exactly a lie, for he had been having "not exactly unpleasant dreams" about a certain blond at some point in his life, but the "large, wet splotch" was a falsehood indeed. He most certainly had enough control over his nether regions to prevent such happenings. Hiashi looked mortified; the man opposite him tugged uneasily on his collar, his face blushing into a rich shade of hot pink.
"Neji—"
Okay. He needed to act as fickle as possible to further irk his uncle. Rearranging his features so that his eyes flashed fire, his brows were firmly knotted, his chin pointed upright in a somewhat indignant manner, and his mouth was pulled down firmly by the corners, he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at his uncle.
"But I need your expert advice RIGHT NOW!" He accentuated the last remark by banging two fists down on Hiashi's table, a furious, childish scowl on his face. With an apologetic look at his client who seemed extremely unnerved, Hiashi tried his best to smile reassuringly, failing miserably.
"This will only take a minute, Takahiro-san." Neji turned wide lavender eyes to the man, smiling cheerfully.
"Oh, so your name is TAKAHIRO, is it not? What a perfectly delightful name, if I DO SAY SO myself. Don't worry," he smiled and fluttered his hand at the man in a most feminine way indeed, a rather unfocused and giddy look in his snow-white eyes. "this will ONLY take a MINUTE." More than happy to retreat, the man turned tail and stumbled out of Hiashi's study with all the enthusiasm of an escaped convict.
"Oh, and I do so love your OUTFIT!" The door slammed shut in his face. Neji instantly dropped his act, a frigid look on his face. Hiashi glared back at him with a livid frown suggesting pure outrage and dire consequences to his actions.
"How dare you barge in on my extremely crucial meeting in that rude, inappropriate way?" Neji stood, his body as stiff as a railspike.
"I dare, because I am sick and tired of the way you control my life." Hiashi drew back, miffed beyond all levels of anger he'd ever experienced before.
"You are a disgrace to the Hyuuga family." Neji smirked, much disconcerting his uncle.
"Thank you." Hiashi exploded, shooting out of his chair and standing to point one accusing finger at his insolent nephew.
"WHEN CAN YOU STOP PLAYING THE ROLE OF A SIMPERING FEMALE AND START ACTING LIKE THE MAN YOU ARE?"
Neji recoiled, sheer rage igniting every nerve ending from his spine to his toes. His uncle had done it. This was the closest he could come to saying the dreaded five words: "Stop acting like you're gay." It was just a sugary version of the blatant accusation. He'd had enough. His fist shot out and caught Hiashi right on the jaw before his brain even registered he was about to punch his uncle. It was that automatic. That impulsive. That uncontrollable. It was a sloppy punch, not at all aimed correctly so it caught Hiashi on his jaw instead of his cheek, but the effect couldn't have made much difference. Hiashi spun out of his chair and windmilled to the floor where he collapsed in a disheveled heap, breathing heavily.
"You…you dare….you dared to strike me…" Neji stood before him, his eyes flashing furiously, his voice low, soft, and surprisingly, sad.
"I've said more than enough, uncle. I've tried to convince you in more ways possible that loving someone, having emotions, living a life with feelings isn't such a bad thing, but you still can't seem to get that one, simple thought through your thickheaded skull. Think long on your actions in the past years, Hiashi, think long and hard. You have no emotion whatsoever; it is high time you get some or you'll live a sad, sorrowful life with no friends, loved ones, or meaning at all. I pity you now more than ever." With a last, sad look at his uncle, Neji quietly departed, closing the doors of the study and his heart on his uncle forever.
Hiashi sat quite still on the floor, leveling his breathing, floating in his mind with an ethereal quality, as if he hadn't yet realized his nephew had the gall to strike him. Blood. He was tasting his own bittersweet blood. His tongue felt too large for his mouth. It was too wide, too thick. He explored his tongue's surface with his teeth, wincing slightly as his incisors sank into the gash he'd bitten into it when his bastard nephew had smote him.
When his bastard nephew had smote him.
The cut felt deep.
His bastard nephew had smote him.
Despite the pain, he clamped his teeth hard on the wound, feeling the blood well up and slide around his mouth like some sort of acidic cocktail. It tasted sharp and bitter, like acid. Acid, pumping through his heart, coursing through his veins. He could feel it—couldn't he?—burning in his cheeks, raging in his ears. It would dissolve him. It was dissolving him. Eating him from the inside out. But then again—as he thought back to his actions—perhaps he needed to lighten up, loosen out. Perhaps his nephew was right, he thought as his anger evaporated. Maybe, just maybe….he might give this little thing called love a try. It was a risk, perhaps—he had the vague feeling it might just turn his whole predictable, monotonous world into a hellhole—but it couldn't hurt to try, just once.
So now I shall say my farewells to all you faithful reviewers. I shall be gone for quite some time...but when I get back, know that I shall try my best to update as soon as possible.
For all of you who know the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation (coincidentally the one that performed the second opening theme song for the Naruto anime series), yes, that was Yamada Takahiro I was talking about (the super-hot bassist). I just felt like adding him in there...