Chapter 2

Neji knew it would only be a matter of time before his teammates spoke to him again. As much as they scoffed at how he had handled himself during his match against Hinata, they also understood clearly the gulf between their skill and his, and their need of him in order to better themselves. Thus he showed graciousness when Tenten showed up at the Hyuuga family compound after only a week and a half of silence.

To his surprise, though, Tenten was less than apologetic in demeanor, preemptively holding one finger up to silence him before he could even open his mouth. "I'm only here because Hinata asked us to bring you along next time we visit her. Are you coming today?" she asked, her eyes staring veritable daggers into his own.

Neji ignored her look as best he could as he considered the proposition. The last time he had visited, his mere presence had reopened Hinata's wounds even though he had only wanted to... Now that he thought on it, what had he hoped to accomplish? Certainly he had not been concerned about her health; he had put her there, after all. He had wanted to tell her about the marriage and make clear his opposition to it, but her stupid silent treatment followed by the even more pitiable panic attack had distracted him almost immediately. And she wanted to see him still, after all that? As weak as she was, and unconcerned for her own safety to boot? Just thinking about it was enough to make his blood boil.

"Well?" Tenten asked sharply, cutting into his train of thought. He had expressly told her many times how he hated to lose focus.

"No," he snapped angrily.

"Fine," she snapped back and pivoted immediately, leaving so quickly only her unique scent of charcoal, metal, and oils lingered. Neji stood in the compound entrance for a moment longer, trying to piece together why Tenten could still be mad at him, before scowling as the reason eluded him and he returned inside to continue his taijutsu training. Not that it would do him any good; he already knew all the basic forms. He needed the forbidden techniques to which only the main house was privy; it galled him to think that Hinata would one day learn the entire repertoire of the Gentle Fist. A small voice whispered that all he had to do was ask Hiashi, especially now that he was betrothed to Hiashi's elder daughter, but he refused to entertain the thought. To do so would legitimize the fate thrust upon him, and he would sooner remove his own Byakugan.

So no techniques to learn, no one to teach him, and no teammates to train with; he was alone in his training to fight Naruto. No matter. He had learned some of the forbidden techniques on his own. He could learn the rest on his own, too, and then he would use Naruto to show the main house that he was not one to be trifled with.

The next week, Lee came to invite him. Unlike Tenten, Lee seemed torn between keeping up his charade of ostracization and rekindling their friendship, but his normally beaming expression hardened when Neji reaffirmed his commitment to not visit his bedridden cousin. Lee left and Neji spent that night refusing to think about how Hinata was possibly faring.

The week after that, Gai-sensei appeared and did not say anything, but he had a strange, warm twinkle in his eye. He clapped Neji on the shoulder with one large hand and bellowed out a loud "Hm!" that Neji took as being somewhere between encouragement and anger. And just like that, his sensei left, and Neji returned to his training extra bitter. He would have expected Gai-sensei out of everyone to be the one to see how important his training was. Oh well.

The fourth week was the entire team's turn, it seemed, and they found him at the training grounds despite his strict command to his family that no one inform them he would be there. He had only a day until his fight with Naruto, yet here they were, the weapons user of average ability, the talentless buffoon, and the joke of a sensei. And despite himself, he allowed Tenten to goad him into a sparring session.

No, Neji would later reflect, if he was honest with himself, he would admit that what they had that day was a fight, and one she was only too prepared for: By the time Gai-sensei stepped in to break it up, he had paralyzed her limbs, but not before she managed to sneak several heavy iron bars past his Gentle Fist defense to bruise his bones. The wounds stayed with him through the night, and into the next day and his battle with Naruto. One particularly sharp twinge of pain made him pause just long enough for the jinchuuriki to gain the advantage and seize an improbable victory. As Gai-sensei carried him home that day, Neji glared at the passing town and vowed to become strong enough to surpass even the tailed beasts.

The week after that, to his surprise, it was Kurenai-sensei who showed up at his doorstep. "Gai and Lee-kun were on their way, but I convinced them to let me instead," she explained, adding, "Tenten doesn't want to talk to you anymore."

"My feelings have not changed," Neji said obstinately. In fact his resolve had only strengthened. "I don't care how Hinata-sama is doing, and I don't care to speak to her."

"I know," Kurenai-sensei said, sounding unconvinced. "All the same, Hinata-chan wanted to let you know how she felt, especially now that you're betrothed to each other."

Neji's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "She told you?"

Kurenai-sensei nodded. "You would know if you had come to see her at all in the past month." There was no tone of malice or judgement in her voice, but Neji still felt the words themselves pierce like knives.

"I was busy training for the next round of the exams. Besides, I did visit her once, and she was… so scared she reopened her wounds." Saying those words out loud unlocked something deep inside him then. He was back at the hospital all those days ago, locking eyes with Hinata as a steady beep quickly turned more urgent, more dangerous. At the time, he had grown angrier and angrier with her inability to speak the longer the silence dragged on, but in hindsight all he could remember was seeing fear visibly washing over her. He remembered panicking, and he remembered the deep sense of shame he felt, before and after she woke.

"Ah, so that did happen," Kurenai-sensei noted, surprising Neji. "She told me something similar, but she thought it might have been a dream. She doesn't remember it happening, and if you ask me, I don't think she wants to remember. I don't think she wants her lasting memory of you to be one of fear."

"Why does she care?" Neji spat out, to which Kurenai-sensei merely shrugged her shoulders.

"That's just the kind of girl she is."

"That's what makes her weak."

Kurenai-sensei suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. Neji watched bemusedly as she worked to rein herself in and compose herself. "You're stuck on this weakness thing, aren't you? Yes, she's weak," she said with chuckles slipping through her lips, "but not a lot of your peers aren't compared to you, are they? Not that that's stopped them from beating you. I heard Tenten wailed on you something fierce, and even Naruto defeated you. And not to put too fine a point on it, but my little Hinata-chan has half the town avoiding you like the plague. She isn't even trying. Imagine what she could do to you if she did."

"I don't need them. I don't need their help or their pity, and I certainly don't need hers."

At that, Kurenai-sensei sighed a deep, put-upon sigh. "Look, kid, I know you're stuck between a rock and a hard place; I won't pretend to know what it's like to be born a Hyuuga. But the sooner you get your head out your ass and see that that little girl is on your side, the easier your life will be." Kurenai-sensei sighed once more and continued, more subdued this time, "Anyway, I just came to tell you that she's recovering well and has been up and moving about for the past two weeks or so, though she still gets tired easily. She misses you and she'd like to see you soon. I'll be going now, Neji-kun. Excuse me."

When Neji finally visited, even though both he and Nurse Hirano announced his presence beforehand, Hinata could not help her heart seizing painfully at the sight of him entering her empty room. She was standing by the window when he entered - the same one he had escaped from weeks ago - and nearly collapsed upon sight of him. He noticed the sudden uptick in her vitals and almost turned away then and there, but stayed when she beckoned him enter. "I just need a moment," she said while working on breathing exercises to calm her nerves and stop the shaking in her knees.

Nurse Hirano nearly knocked the door over on her way into the room - clearly she was paying extra close attention to her patient - but upon seeing everything was fine, coughed a discreet cough and went to check on Hinata's machine, taking extra long to go over it thoroughly.

"It's good to see you again," Hinata said for lacking anything better, as amicably as she could.

"Kurenai-sensei told me you're doing better. I see you're walking."

"Yes. I even snuck out to do a little training. Sorry, Nurse Hirano."

The nurse shook her head and, having decided all was well, finally left the machine alone and made for the door. "You'll call if you need anything," she commanded, to which Hinata nodded.

"I'm sorry about your loss to Naruto-kun. I heard from Tenten."

"Are you really?" Neji asked, a barely-disguised edge to his voice.

A small smile crept to Hinata's lips unbidden. "Maybe I shouldn't be. Part of me isn't. But part of me is, despite everything. I'm glad you're okay, at least."

Neji made a sound of disapproval, but did not pursue the subject further. "I have to go," he said abruptly. "I just came to see how you were doing."

The smile vanished from Hinata's face, and she was faced again with the harsh distance that had only widened between the two of them ever since the Chuunin exams. "Okay," she mumbled, and he left.

Well, that had not been very substantial, but they had talked, which was a victory of sorts, Hinata supposed. Some progress was better than no progress.