Though the creme colored paper could not have weighed more than a few ounces it felt impossibly heavy in Neji's hands.
He knew it was from the Hyuuga clan, there was no one else who would have sent an invitation to Tenten's house. He had woken up very early, sensing men outside of the door to Tenten's apartment. He was careful when he untangled himself from Tenten's embrace, brushing a kiss to her forehead and murmuring that everything was alright. Being the highest ranking member of his team, both Tenten and Lee had been trained to follow his orders. Given that he and Tenten trained together even more, she would do it almost instinctively. She had gave a sleepy murmur of consent and fallen right back to sleep.
Given that he was a Jonin and sometimes was sent out on special missions, Neji was excellent at stealth even in every day situations. He was able to slip to the door without alerting the two girls fast asleep on Tenten's pull out couch. Hinata and Hanabi were back to back, each girl curled around one of the spare pillows. Hanabi's dark brown hair was shorter than Hinata's long violet locks. Neji had repeatedly told her she had to pull her hair back, it was always getting in her eyes when she did the more advance moves of Gentle Fist. But she had always refused, never liking the way hair ties pulled at the strands or headbands pinched her ears. Now her violet locks hung unbound across the pillow like a violet stain. Hanabi looked liked him, like their father, but Hinata was the spitting image of their mother.
Pushing the thoughts of their parentage aside, Neji walked over to the door and bent down. On the floor was the pale envelope. He picked it up without even considering what it was but the second he felt the expensive stationary he knew that there was only one place it could have come from. It was from the Hyuuga family. He stood there with the envelope gripped between his hands, his eyes staring at the front before he finally summoned the courage to turn it over and read the back. Printed there was his name. The invitation was for--it was for him. For the eldest son of Hiashi Hyuuga, for the next leader of the Hyuuga Clan. Neji gripped the envelope tightly, his everything inside him wanting nothing more than to tear the envelope in half.
He was not ready.
He was not ready to deal with Hiashi Hyuuga and the revelations that came with the long buried truth. He was only beginning to be ready to look at Hinata and Hanabi as his little half sisters. And Tenten--Neji shut his eyes. The little apartment with its odd smell of metal and spring seemed to be the closest thing to a home that he had since he was a child. The Hyuuga compound had been home, or the small set of rooms that he shared with his father had been anyway. He lived in a different place now, he could not stay there after his father died. Neji's fingers tightened further. His father--his father was Hiashi Hyuuga, not Hizashi. He was an order, not a son. It had all been a lie, Hizashi Hyuuga never wanted to inflict his fate on others, especially not his children and it seemed that he got his wish. Hashi on the other hand, that man seemed to have no problem in condemning his son.
"Neji?" Hinata's sleepy voice came to him. He turned to see her pushing herself up, one hand automatically coming to smooth her violet hair down, "is something wrong?"
"Everything's fine," he said looking at her, their moonlit eyes reflecting the moon that slipped through the window, "go back to bed," Hinata yawned but obeyed.
Neji was torn between going to the bathroom and letting Tenten sleep or going into her room and asking for her help. His feet seemed to make up his mind for him as he slipped into her room, closing the door behind him. He sat on the bed, his fingers still holding the envelope. As always, Tenten did not disappoint him. He felt the weight behind him shift as the she moved towards him finally kneeling behind him, her chin resting on his broad shoulder.
Even if they had only just begun to date the two of them had been together for much longer. First they were sparring partners then they were friends, then they were something between friends and lovers. Her moves involved ariel attacks and his were close range fighting. It was inevitable that their bodies touched on a regular basis. It was not so much a problem when they were younger with flat chests and strait bodies. The first time they had landed in a tangle of limbs and Tenten had been, well, she had been soft. Soft in places he hadn't noticed. It had been gradual but one day he had realized that her chest was not flat and her body was not strait, it had curves in it. They had stopped for a full minuet pressed together wondering if this changed anything before he had gruffly said they had to keep going.
Everything was fine until the scorching summer months when training inevitably made it too hot to wear a shirt. Tenten had been wrapping her chest in the stiff bandages girl's used for a while but when they were fighting and he could see--well he could see things that hadn't been there--that day it was the easiest victory Tenten ever got against him. On missions to cold places if they had to camp out they would be close together. His dislike of contact was over shadowed by the fact that hypothermia was a serious condition and that sharing a sleeping bag was the easiest way to avoid it. That and the fact that if he did not share with Tenten he would be sharing with Lee or Gai was quick motivation for him to all but claim his team mate as his bed mate.
Now when she leaned against him and her breasts pressed against his back, he did not jerk or shy away from the touch. But he was aware that it was far more intimate than the fighting brushes. He could see her sleepy brown eyes out of the corner of his and felt guilty for waking her but relieved that she was awake none the less.
"Whats that?" she asked looking at the envelope.
"They slipped it under the door," he said.
"What's it say?" he said nothing, "open it," she said.
He made no move to do so. Tenten's small hands slipped under his arms, fingers just brushing the skin of his side before they touched the envelope. His own fingers seemed to slacken as she took it in her small hands and pulled open the heavy stationary, extracting the piece of stationary inside. His hands seemed to come up out of their own accord, his fingers taking the stationary from her and opening it up. It was written in an elegant, nondescript hand and Neji wondered if it was disappointment or relief churning through him that the hand was not Hiashi's. Especially since the letter was concerning him.
"No."
"Neji," Tenten sighed, her breath tickling the exposed skin of his chest, "maybe you should--"
"No," he repeated flatly, "i have no interest in talking to him," he went to push himself up but her arms wrapped around his chest, holding him in place, "Ten," he began, her nickname contradicting the words he was about to say.
"He just wants to talk," Tenten said her voice low and soft and full of sense that Neji did not want to hear, "this can't have been easy on him."
"Why should I care what this was on him?" Neji demanded turning his head so he caught side of Tenten's poof-less head.
Tenten shook her head, not sure what to tell Neji. While she had never held much sympathy for the Head of the Hyuuga Clan, Neji hadn't seen his face when they brought him to have his Seal removed. He looked so horrible even Tenten had felt her hatred wavering. His eyes had remained locked on Neji as if he was afraid the young man was going to disappear. The rest of the elders had looked unaffected as always but Hiashi had looked truly tortured at what Neji had become. He looked like a father looking at his son, like how Tenten imagined he looked at his brother when Hizashi had sacrificed himself to ensure the safety of his brother and his family. He had been there throughout the treatment to remove Neji's curse Seal. She had felt him use more Chakra than anyone else to destroy the Seal and free Neji. When it was over he had been more drawn than anyone else despite being much younger and stronger. Tenten had no doubt that without him it would have been almost impossible for Neji to have survived or done as well as he did in spite of the treatment.
"You two were getting along so much better before this," she said.
"That doesn't matter," Neji said hotly.
The two of them had been getting along much better but it now when he thought of every moment spent training, every cup of tea they had shared the only thing he could see was the lies. Hiashi Hyuuga had condemned him and then when they finally started to act like uncle and nephew the truth that they were actually father and son came out and destroyed all that. Hiashi had worked so hard with him to perfect his techniques. Tenten was an excellent partner but there were certain things that only a true master of the Gentle Fist could teach him. He had worked with him endlessly, hour after hour even though there was no reason for the Head of the Clan to be the one working with him except for the fact that he was a prodigy. But he had been a Branch house prodigy back then and there was no legitimate reason to receive such attention from him even if he was his uncle. He didn't even work that hard with his daughter--
His daughter.
Was that the reason he had been so hard on Hinata? He had a son he could not acknowledge and two daughters, one who had been born to replace the weaker of them. Had Hinata been his replacement just as Hanabi had been hers? As he had become closer to Hinata and Hanabi he had learned that the two girls were not half as weak as Hiashi painted them to be, especially not Hinata. Even if they were weak though he had never understood why it was that Hiashi could barely look at his daughters. Perhaps it had been because of him, because there had been another child that he could not acknowledge. Neji's fingers tightened on the paper. Was he the reason that Hinata had been treated like such garbage? That was just--that was horrible of Hiashi to do.
Horrible and somehow understandable.
"Talk to him," Tenten's voice was a soft whisper as her forehead rested against his shoulder, her breath slipping down his back like a warm caress, "just talk to him. If you want to beat him afterwards we'll help you."
"You'll take on the Hyuuga Clan?" he asked peering over his shoulder at her.
"Mmmhmmm," she gave a murmur of confirmation, "the Hyuuga's and whoever else hurts you. Your fights are my fights."
One of his hands maintained its grip on the paper while the other reached out and covered the clasped hands on his chest. He felt Tenten's lips press to one of the scars that adorned his shoulders before they gently disentangled themselves from one another. He place the letter and the envelope and the invitation that it held on the nightstand before he lay down alongside Tenten. Her head lay on his shoulder and though he tried valiantly to fight the pull of sleep the gentle rise and fall of her chest was as effective as a lullaby and he found himself drifting off.
Until he stepped out into the hustle and bustle of Konoha, Neji hadn't realized how secluded he had been in Tenten's apartment. It had scarcely been a week since his world had been shattered and he had shown up at her doorstep in a mess of tears, rain and dirt. Now though the day was beautiful with bright blue skies and the warmth that Konoha seemed to wear like a favorite garment. Neji resisted the urge to tug at his own cloths, wondering if there was a reason that Hinata had tucked a change of his usual garb into the bag she had brought over for him. The pale fabric had felt just as heavy as the envelope but he had put it on anyway. The black cloth he usually wore around his waist had been destroyed and he had never kept another on hand. Even so he knew that was not the reason everyone was staring at him.
No one was really sure what to make of the infamous 'caged bird' that had somehow broken free. If he were honest Neji would admit that he wasn't quite sure what to make of himself either. In a handful of days he had gone from being a caged lonely orphan to a man with a family and a girlfriend. A girlfriend who had assured him that the ass kicking he was going to get if he chickened out would leave him with even more scars than he already had. Though Neji respected her abilities, he did not outright fear them. However he knew that when Tenten was infuriated enough she could inflict serious damage. But he saw what she was really doing. She could not come with him, not this time. Their battles might have been shared but he was going to have to face this enemy on his own.
He arrived at the Hyuuga compound, not giving his feet time to slow or quicken as he walked to the compound with carefully measured steps. The moon eyed men looked at him, shock written all over their features before they quickly dropped into low bows. Neji knew the men had glared at him once not too long ago, the built up prodigy. Now he was someone to be respected, all because there was a different blood that flowed through his veins. He walked towards the main house, making sure to keep his pace smooth and controlled. One foot in front of the other, one step in after the other, one heartbeat followed by another. Servants parted the rice screens for him as he stepped into the shaded building. Another branch member stood in front of him and bowed low.
Bowed to a member of the main House.
"They're waiting for you," he said, his voice low and respectful, "this way," he led him down the hallway before coming to one of the meeting rooms the Elders sometimes used, "in here."
Neji nodded as the doors were slid open. Inside were a handful of hateful old men murmuring in quiet voices. Hiashi was there as well, talking to two of them. He looked as impenetrable as always, none of the frantic worry that his friends had told him about. Aloof, cool, his ivory eyes glanced at Neji and then back to the man he was talking too as if there was no reason to say anything to him. ANger coiled inside Neji and for one he was grateful for the emotion. Anger let him focus, anger made him remember that family and home were two words that did not apply to the room and the people gathered in it. No home was a small apartment with Tenten and Hinata and Hanabi, it was not this place with these people.
"You're here," one of the Elders said as the servants closed the door, the sound making Neji think of being locked into a prison cell--or a bird cage, "we can begin then."
"I have no interest in talking to you," he said, surprised at how cold and steady his voice was, "not until I speak to my Uncle."
The elders traded glances but Neji kept his gaze unwavering. He would not speak to them until he talked to Hiashi.
"Stop with this foolish--" one began.
"Get out."
The moonlight eyes all shifted to Hiashi. The order was give with the same cold authority Neji had used moments before. The only problem was that this was from the Head of the Hyuuga Clan and their disobedience would not be looked upon favorably, especially not in light of Hiashi's recent mood with them. They had ordered him to tell Neji the truth, they had destroyed the fragile bonds that wove them together. To say he had no patience with them would be a huge understatement. Trading glances and muttering they all turned and left the room in a slow, infuriated line. Soon it was just Neji and Hiashi standing in the room. Neji was silent as he looked at the man he would much rather kill than speak too. Hiashi turned to him fully, his hands folded neatly none of the furious tension that was written all over his son.
"Explain," Neji demanded.
For the first time, Hiashi did.
Okay so, update!
Truthfully my interest in Naruto has waned...severely. I'm going to try to continue these fics, especially this one, but updates are probably going to be sporadic. However let me stress the fact that if I know people are reading and enjoying a story I tend to update it more. How do you let me know that? REVIEW or you can PM me if you're shy.
Sorry about the delay!
Go green--as in hit the green button and say "hi! I enjoyed the chapter!" or something like that.