"Is there…something in particular…on your mind…or are you actually trying to…kill me?" panted Hinata as she stood with her hands on her hips, watching her cousin stalk around the dojo with a positively murderous expression. He had been just about beating her senseless for almost half an hour, after showing up at her door and practically demanding they spend the afternoon sparring. In the bit over a week since her engagement party, Hinata had noticed a change in Neji's demeanour, though as she huffed in foggy breaths of cold air, she admitted she couldn't quite work out what it was that he wanted to say. Hinata had hoped he would eventually work himself up to conversation but he seemed particularly determined to avoid whatever he so desperately needed to express.

If he left it much longer she might be too exhausted to communicate all together.

Neji scowled at her question and stalked back to his starting position to take up a defensive stance.

"You must be out of practice," he countered grumpily.

"Or clued in that you always do this when you want to talk and don't know what to say," Hinata responded as her labored breathing relaxed and the words began to come more effortlessly. Neji straightened but his facial expression remained hostile.

"Would it have something to do the argument you and Tenten had this morning?" Hinata smirked inwardly when Neji looked shocked. She didn't surprise him often but it never failed to provide a sense of satisfaction when she managed to know more about his life than he let on. He made a strangled sound that might have been a growl before stalking over to grab Hinata's wrist and drag her none to gently back to his quarters, where he closed the door carefully and gestured for her to take a seat.

"I have told you already, not out there." He leaned back against the wall opposite where she was sitting and sighed, "What do you know?"

Hinata's hands came together to fidget in her lap as she described her meeting with Tenten in the forest not more than a few hours ago. Hinata had been out taking a blissfully uninterrupted walk around the village with Naruto when Tenten had stormed past them looking highly-strung and on a mission. Naruto thought she might have been crying and suggested that Hinata check on her, so they had parted with a quick kiss and a promise from Hinata that she would let him know if there was anything wrong and if he could help. So Hinata told Neji everything that had subsequently transpired, including Tenten's account of their physical altercation and the selection of choice words she used to describe him while she beat the living daylights out of a nearby tree. Neji at least had the good grace to look guilty but Hinata noticed there was no remorse evident in his eyes.

"Neji, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what is wrong with you? It is clear you are in love with her, whether you admit it or not, yet you assault her in her own kitchen! I know you…this isn't the kind of person you are, so either there is something horribly wrong with you or you're deliberately trying to make her hate you…" she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and just looked at him sadly.

"I did not assault her, Hinata. She hit me, if you want to be entirely accurate."

Hinata's eyes narrowed immediately as she raised her finger to point at him angrily, "Don't give me that excuse. Whether you hit her or not is besides the point. You spent a week avoiding her while you pretended you were working with Shikamaru, who I know is on a mission, by the way. You goaded her into an argument until she felt threatened enough to lash out at you. Then you took out your guilty frustration on me in the sparring ring, so spill…you owe me."

Neji shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot before coming to an apparent decision and walking over to retrieve a piece of paper from his desk. Holding it absently in one hand he returned to his position leaning against the wall.

"I do love her," he confirmed with a slight nod. "I haven't said it before and definitely not to her but I see no point in pretending to you that it isn't true. That said, you know better than anyone that Tenten has always had my back, whether I ask it of her or not. Now it is my turn. She doesn't know but she is caught up in something dangerous…"

"Your special assignment?"

"Yes. I was assigned with Shikamaru to investigate inconsistencies in some reports that might indicate a traitor within the Hidden Leaf, but it is worse than we thought, and now I am concerned it could get wildly out of hand. I didn't set out to start an argument with her, but I was angry, and I was sort of using work to avoid discussing why. It was an honest fight to begin with, but I realised somewhere in the middle of it that a big fight might help to keep her away and out of danger until this is finished, so…" he left the sentence unfinished and ran a hand over his face in an unusual demonstration of agitation before continuing,

"The only problem is that I also need to keep an eye on her, quietly. Once this mission is over you can both reprimand me for mistreating her until your heart's content."

Hinata soaked in his words and evaluated him briefly, "That was an extreme measure to take and I am not sure I am entirely following…"

"I think I need your advice, or maybe your help. Initially, I just wanted to get her out of the way to protect her but there is another reason to keep her out of harms way and away from me for the time being, and I can't be sure of it without consulting with a Main Branch Byakugan user," he paused for a moment to look her directly in the eye, "someone who is trained to use it for more than just combat."

Neji leaned forward and handed Hinata the paper, which she unfolded and nearly dropped once she scanned the contents. She looked up at him with wide eyes,

"How on earth did you get this, Neji? The Elders would never allow you access to these kinds of documents!"

He held up his hands in a placating manner and replied,

"It was necessary for the assignment, I promise you. What I was not expecting to discover was this," he pointed to a section at the bottom of the page beside which he had added a notation.

"I had no idea what I was seeing at the time and didn't want to say anything until I was sure but when I re-read this entry…I am almost completely certain, but I am not trained for it, so…."

He was feeling increasingly stressed by his suspicion and pointed out the notation he had made to a confused Hinata, whose change in expression all but confirmed his suspicions. Hinata turned as white as her shirt and he thought for a moment that they might both pass out from the revelation. Her mouth gaped open and closed like a fish for a long moment.

"Oh...oh no…no no no…I mean…but…it's not…you saw this?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure?"

Now it was Neji's turn to be exasperated.

"Why do you think I am asking you about it!"

Hinata put her hand to her mouth and shook her head slowly, "If…if this is what you saw, it is beyond dangerous. It is deadly. You have to fix what happened today! Wh-what are you going to do?"

Neji came then to sit beside her on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and dropping his head into his hands for a moment before he looked up at her again,

"I need to ask you for a favour…"