Tsunade, the Hokage, had thought she was far past the time when things would surprise her. Apparently she had been wrong because Neji Hyuuga did not look particularly thrilled. She hadn't really expected the Hyuuga to do cartwheels or anything but the silence was almost worse. He was sitting up for the first time in a week and the bandages were still on his forehead. He knew the Seal was gone but according to the healers he had requested the mirror in his small bathroom be removed and the rest of the time he kept his forehead covered. She had tried to subtly speed up the process by replacing the mirror but discovered an old hospital gown had been tossed over it. What was more, even though half of Konoha had come to see him he had refused to see anyone. Not even Rock Lee could convince him to let him inside. Tenten--Tenten seemed to have made the decision that staying away was the best course of action. Tsunade knew the girl had blamed herself for what happened and refused to stick around, as if her presence alone would kill him all over again. It was a shame since she had a feeling that Tenten's presence was the only thing that would save him.

"Your vitals look fine," she said examining the chart, "you should be ready to be released in a few days."

He gave no response, nothing to show he even acknowledged her words. Tsunade replaced the chart at the foot of his bed as a soft knock sounded on the door. She knew who it was, only Hinata could knock and sound timid at the same time. She looked at Neji expectantly but he made no move to permit the young woman entry. His eyes remained locked on the wall. Tsunade walked over to the door with a grumble and pulled it open to reveal the young woman. She was dressed very simply in a t-shirt and pants, a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Her indigo hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Unwilling Tsunade's eyes were drawn to her covered forehead, searching out any sign that they had branded the young woman. Thankfully she found none.

"Is he alright?" Hinata asked, her voice soft but free of the stutter, revealing how comfortable she felt around her cousin.

"Physically he's alright, I think this is a shock to him," Tsunade said.

"I imagine so," Hinata replied, "may I visit him?"

"If you need me hit the call button," Tsunade said.

She walked out. Hinata looked at her cousin with a heavy heart. She hadn't seen that look on his face since his father died, the look of such helplessness it broke her heart. For a moment she wanted to turn and run away but she resolutely reminded herself that this was important. Squaring her shoulders she walked into the room, placing the vase with the flowers she had on the window sill. The splash of color seemed to mock the paleness of the room and for a moment she wondered if she should have gotten paler colors. Shaking her head she turned around to face Neji. He was still perfectly still, as though by not moving he could stop the world. She walked over to him and stood next to him.

"Neji?" she asked softly. He made no move to acknowledge her, "it's good that your up," she tried again, "we were all really worried about you. Especially Tenten, she's been--" she stopped, wondering how much she should tell him, "she's been upset," she finished finally, "and Rock Lee's not as loud as he was, even Gai seems more somber. Lee still won't wear his spandex though, I think he's afraid too," she bit her lip, "I hope you get better soon, Hanabi's trying to learn the Heavenly Spin but I don't think that she's going to get it without Tenten's help."

She waited, hoping for any sign of, well, something in her cousin's eyes. There was nothing. With a heavy heart she turned to go.

"I never thought--" his voice was rough with emotion and disuse, "I never thought it would--" she turned around quickly and was shocked to see his eyes turn to hers, "I don't know what to do now, I don't know what this means--" he looked away, obviously embarrassed.

"Neji," Hinata rushed back over to the bed, "it's going to be okay. I promise, we'll figure it out. You don't have to push us away, we're all here for you."

"I don't know what to do now," he looked at her, his eyes almost fearful.

Hinata reached forward and touched the back of the bandages. Neji flinched away but she leaned forward and quickly severed the knot. Reaching into her pack she got out the small mirror she carried sometimes, thankful it was there. Knowing he would never take it she quickly held it up and showed him his bare forehead. Neji's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the bare skin, his fists clenching in the blankets. Hinata imagined it was one thing to be told the Seal was gone, it was an entirely different thing to see it actually gone. Hesitantly one of Neji's hands lifted, his fingertip reaching up to brush against the bare skin of his forehead. Hinata saw the first tear slip down his cheek which was quickly followed by another. Neji was too overwhelmed to be embarrassed. She doubted he even knew he was crying. And he wasn't, at least, not in the traditional sense. He wasn't sobbing, his chest wasn't heaving, the only indication was the tears that slipped down his cheeks. The Seal that had defined him as much as anything was gone. He didn't know if he was even 'Neji' without it. It would be like Naruto without the Fox. He almost wanted to go to Hiashi and get it back. He had learned to live with the Seal, but now it felt like someone had stolen something from him. Like the cage had become a home and now he was locked out. Hinata wished Tenten was there, Tenten had always been able to deal with Neji when no-one else could.

"You'll be okay," Hinata promised, "and we'll all be here to help you. You're still you, even without your Seal."

"But why?" he touched his forehead again, "why would they do this?"

"After you took the hit for Tenten, your Seal kept trying to activate. Father and I stopped it but he had to go and get permission from the Elders to remove it and then Tsunade helped us move you before the Unsealing."

"He didn't want to loose his precious prodigy," Neji said, his eyes going hard.

"I don't know Neji," Hinata bit her lip, "he was really worried," she sighed, "he looks very tired, I don't think he's been sleeping."

It was only respect for his cousin that made him tell her he didn't particularly care if Hiashi Hyuuga jumped off the Hokage memorial. He had trained with the man because he had something to teach him but Gai was his real teacher. He obeyed him because he was the Head of the Clan, not because they were related. He imagined that there had been a time when he and his father had been close, they were Twins after all, but that time was long passed. Gai was more of a father figure to him than his own uncle was. His mother wasn't an issue, he didn't know anything about her beyond her name. It was not as if people spoke of her and when they did it was rarely something good. He sympathized with Naruto who always had the whispers going after him. He had guessed why before, they all had, but he could never figure out what his mother had done that was so horrible. He supposed it didn't really matter now, after all even if he knew it wouldn't change the fact that she was dead. As for Hiashi, well, the easiest thing to say was that Hiashi was confusing to him. There were times when he thought the man viewed him as a manifestation of everything he regretted doing in his life and there were times when he would look at him with something like egret in his eyes. He supposed that both were due to the fact that he looked very much like his father and therefore like Hiashi himself. But he couldn't really bring himself to care.

"Father!" Hinata got to her feet quickly. Neji smiled grimly, of course he would come to see him. He had to protect his investment. Hell he was probably there to re-Seal him.

"Hinata," Hiashi inclined his head slightly, "I need to speak to Neji alone for a moment."

"Of course," Hinata nodded and walked out, leaving the two men alone.

Neji had to grudgingly agree with Hinata that Hiashi looked terrible. The part of him that was still a bitter child cheered inwardly for the suffering of the man who had caused him so much pain. The more mature part of him was slightly concerned. The way Hiashi was looking at him, the regret and sadness in his eyes, he half expected the elder man to break down and cry. For a moment neither of them spoke. He supposed he should get up and bow or something but he felt as though his limbs had been weighted down by led. He doubted he could have moved if he had to. His eyes darted over Hiashi, searching for any sign that the Head of the Clan was going to pull out a scroll and he was going to have another life-changing revelation in a hospital. Hiashi slowly met his eyes, looking like he wanted nothing more than to run away from the room.

"What I am about to tell you has been kept a secret for many years, for your sake and for the Clans. I only ask that you hear what I am about to tell you in its entirety."

Neji nodded his consent.

Twenty minuets later he stumbled to the bathroom, emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Hiashi's words were burned into him, marking him far more than the Curse Seal ever could. Whatever he thought he was going to hear, whatever he thought was going to happen, the thought that that was even possible was so unfathomable to him. His father hadn't died, his father had been there all along. No, Neji corrected himself, that man was only his father in a biological sense. Hizashi had been his father, in every way that mattered. The room seemed to tight, too small for him. Before he could stop himself he tore out of it, ignoring the surprised shouts and the odd looks he received. He must have looked insane. Careful, proud, controlled Neji was running down the street in the white shirt and pants given to the hospital patients with his hair streaming behind him and the place where his IV had been still bleeding. But he didn't care, he couldn't care. Not about how he looked, not about how he felt, not about the heat the dirt ground held from the burning sun, not about anything except putting as much distance between him and Hiashi as the borders of Konoha allowed.

Instead his feet took him to the grave yard he had stayed away from for most of his adult life. He had watched Gai's rival, Kakashi, spend hours talking to graves. Neji knew he had better things to do than talk to people who couldn't talk back. His father's tombstone was a marker, his body wasn't even there. The Ninja's from the Land of Lightening had demanded it as payment. His tombstone was simple, a piece of stone a few shades darker than the Byakugan, with his father's name and the date of his birth and his death on it. Neji fell to his knees in the soft earth of the grave. The tears that had been falling steadily increased tenfold as a raw pain sliced through his chest that he knew had nothing to do with the still healing wounds. The last of his control was gone as a sob was torn from him. He hadn't cried like that in years, not since before his father died. But here he was, desperate for him to come back and tell him what the hell he was supposed to do now. His fingers dug into the ground, searching for the stability his life suddenly didn't have. His body folded onto itself as he sobbed, his dark hair falling down to mix with the ground. He wanted nothing more than to have him there, to have him tell him what he was supposed to do now, now that it seemed everything had been a lie.

He would have thought that if there was a day when he got his Seal removed he would be happy. Instead he felt lost without it. And he had always assumed that even without the Seal he would be a Branch House member. He remembered Hinata's words about how they would all be there to help him, how he wasn't alone. He wondered if the fact that they were far more closely related than he thought before changed that. People had commented on how he looked like his father, how Hanabi looked a lot like her father as well while Hinata was the spitting image of her mother. He supposed it made sense, he did look a lot like his father, his father just happened to be the other identical twin. It suddenly occurred to him that this meant Hanabi and Hinata were actually his half-sisters. His stomach rolled at the thought that a few short years ago he had tried to kill his younger sister, that there was still so much distance between them despite the efforts from both to close the gap. His sobs quieted as the tears he thought couldn't stop slowly dried. The water on his face was colder. He realized that the sky had joined him in his sadness. The thought of going back to the hospital was unbearable, as was the idea of sleeping at the Hyuuga compound. That left really one place. He didn't want to, not if she was avoiding him, but he needed too--he needed her. So slowly Neji got to his feet and made his way over to Tenten's apartment.

Tenten heard the knock on the door. Putting down the bottle of polish and the rag she was holding she walked over to the door. She pulled it open and was faced with the sight of a very wet, obviously distraught Neji Hyuuga. He looked like he had been crying and there was dirt on his knees and hands. Wordlessly, because what was there to say?, she led him into her apartment. He went with her, his lips equally silent. He looked so lost. She had seen the look on his face twice before, once when his father died and the second time when he found out the truth but both those times had paled in comparison to this. She guided him over to her couch and grabbed a towel from her closet, wrapping it around him. Somehow his head came down to rest against her shoulder. She felt the hot tears slipping down his cheeks and she wondered if he knew he was still crying. Reaching up she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, ignoring the feeling of the wounds she was responsible for. He seemed too tired to sob, like he had cried as much as he could. She could feel his breath evening out against her skin as exhaustion caught up to him.

Something inside of her was very very happy at the prospect of Neji Hyuuga sleeping in her bed but she stubbornly pushed it down. He was a friend in need of her at the moment, this was not the time to give into her inner fangirl. She guided one of his arms around her shoulders and stood up, shouldering some of his weight. She led him into her bedroom and helped him onto the bed. Ducking into the closet she yanked down a pair of sweatpants that she had stolen from him when she ruined her last pair and handed them to him. She slipped out and let him change while she got the first aide kit and washed her hands.. When she came back he was sitting on the bed, bare from the waist up. Though she wasn't a medic Nin, she knew his bandages should be dry. Getting out her supplies she quickly set about re-bandaging his wounds with clean, dry gauze. When she was done she helped him lie down. They had slept side by side during missions and something told her that if there was ever a time he needed comfort it was now. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a shirt, she ducked into the bathroom and pulled them on, taking her hair out of it's style, letting the heavy waves fall to just past her shoulders. She pulled open the door and walked back over to the bed, slipping under the covers next to him. His eyes were open and looking at the ceiling. She turned and careful not to jostle any of his injuries, wrapped her arm around him, putting her head on his chest. She breathed in and out steadily as his chest slowly picked up the rhythm. She saw his eyes flutter shut. Reaching upwards she wiped the tears on his temples away. She knew she should go and tell someone that he was here, that he was safe, but she couldn't bring herself to move from Neji's embrace.

AN

Whoops! Didn't mean to make Neji cry THAT much but hey, wouldn't you if you learned Hiashi was your dad? Wonder how morning's gonna go in Tenten's house huh? You'll find out soon!