Author's Notes:

wintry:

Okay, this is the second chapter, I hope it isn't as bad as I think it seems. Anyway, sorry for the slow progress of the story, I'm not a very good communicator in writing and that's why it's so hard. Besides, I sometimes tend to lose focus and well, end up abandoning a story. I sure hope that this isn't one of those times.

Anyway, thanks for those who actually read this, it means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden. The entire franchise belongs to it's rightful owner, I'm just a writer ith a taste for adventure and ended up clinging to the story. So yeah, I really don't own a thing in Naruto...

-yumi-yumi-yumi-yumi-yumi-

Chapter 2- Engaged to the Unknown?

A kunai embedded itself on a tree trunk, just a few inches away from the face of a Hyuuga servant. Neji opened his eyes and cocked his head sidewards to glance at the servant who had disturbed his meditation and training. The young servant's lips nervously trembled as she contemplated on telling him what she was ordered to tell him or chicken out and run away.

"What are you doing here?" Neji asked, standing up while dusting his clothes and approaching the young female, who averted her eyes out of respect and fear.

"H-hiashi-sama told me to call you, Neji-sama... H-he says that it is of i-importance as t-the clan's f-future d-depends on it." Neji nodded once before heading towards his uncle's study, he hoped it was something really important as it had interrupted his training.

"Sit down Neji." This was the first sentence that came out of his uncle's mouth when he opened the sliding door of the study. His uncle was busy reading a scroll to notice him taking a seat already and he waited patiently for him to finish. It didn't take long for him to finish reading the scroll and he looked up to face his nephew who was waiting.

"Neji, show me your wrist." Neji was confused, but he was perfectly capable of masking it with a serious facade as he drew the sleeve of his training clothes and showed him his left wrist. He frowned slightly when his uncle looked at it before motioning for the other wrist, which he showed.

"I do not see the connection of my wrist towards the future of the clan, Hiashi-sama." He said, causing the older man to look up and raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, Neji?" Neji bowed his head low, it was customary that the branch family look down when talking with the clan head, that was drilled into his mind through pain when he was little.

"Forgive me for speaking Hiashi-sama, but I am a mere member of the branch family. How is it that my wrists can change the clan's future?" His tone was filled with respect but his eyes were blank and emotionless as he spoke. Hiashi sighed and handed him a scroll, the same scroll that Hizashi had signed the blood-pact with the clan from Tsukiyomi. Neji looked at it before looking at the name of his father and another person's name at the end of the scroll.

"I do not understand, Hiashi-sama." Neji stated after he had finished reading the scroll and placed t back on the table gently. Hiashi crossed his arms and pointed towards his wrist where a crescent moon was drawn like a birthmark.

"It is easy to understand, Neji. That crescent moon on your wrist is the sign of my brother's blood pact with Takumi-san, and as such, it can determine whether our clan will live or be destroyed." Neji stared at his wrists then back at his uncle, realization dawning on him as he realized what the insignia on his wrist meant. He didn't object, instead, he waited for what his uncle still had to stay.

"That isn't an ordinary birthmark Neji, that is a sign of your betrothal to the last heiress of the main family." Neji looked up at his uncle, is eyes were steeled with resolve as he voiced out his disapproval of the pact.

"No." Hiashi raised an eyebrow at his nephew's answer and blatant statement, this was new. No matter how many times he had asked him to do things, he had never refused, and to tell the truth, even Neji was shocked but he stood up for his resolve.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no, Hiashi-sama. With all due respect, it is not my duty to follow through something that had been arranged years ago. My father is dead, and so is my mother, if my understanding of the situation is correct, this girl I am betrothed to has no family left, except for her cousins from the branch family as she is the last of the main family." He stated before standing up and turning around to leave until his uncle called out to him, causing him to stop on his tracks and turn around.

"Excuse me, Hiashi-sama?" The older man smirked and answered, his voice filled with authority.

"You heard me, do not make me repeat it again."

~Hiashi~

Hiashi was surprised that his nephew had refused the betrothal, surely he knew that a blood pact wasn't easily dissolved, to be frank, it was impossible to dissolve it. It didn't matter whether the persons who made the pact where dead, as long as the marks were present and they were alive, it wouldn't be broken.

'He is really your son Hizashi, he has grown up into a fine young man you would be proud of.' Hiashi thought to himself as he observed his nephew stand up, bow and turn to leave.

"Neji, you do know that you are the next heir of the clan. Surely you wouldn't want your father to be brought to shame even in his death because you disapproved of the woman he had wanted you to marry." As he had thought, he stopped and turned around, his expression was a mixture of consternation, confusion and surprise.

"Excuse me, Hiashi-sama?" He smirked, it seemed to him that his nephew doubted what he had said earlier.

"You heard me, do not make me repeat it again." Hiashi motioned for him to take a seat again, maybe it was time to tell him about his plans for him and the clan. He had been contemplating on it for long time now when he realized the affection that the Uzumaki/Namikaze boy had for his eldest daughter.

"I have been thinking it over for the past few years now, and I didn't have a chance to commence with the plan as the council would disapprove of it. But with my brother's heroic act and you getting married, no one should be able to complain, besides, Hinata and Hanabi won't be able to keep the Hyuuga name after marriage. It is imperative that a male successor be chosen lest we all want to lose the name Hyuuga." Hiashi watched as his nephew thought things over, when it came to making his father proud and proving himself, Neji would always weigh things and his decisions.

"I will think it over, Hiashi-sama." Hiashi smirked and nodded, well, the boy also needed freedom and time, but as far as he was concerned, the girl's namesake was yesterday and so, Neji didn't have time anymore, he would have to intervene.

"Neji, you do not have enough time, let me tell you that you will meet your fiancee in a few hours, and I will also be making the announcement of you being the heir, they need to know about my decision now." Hiashi waited for any more complaints but the boy had remained silent and that was a good sign since he had made no notice of rebuffing him again.

"You can go now and prepare for the meeting, I shall inform the council about this meeting." Neji nodded respectfully and Hiashi looked at him, his eyes not leaving the younger male's form until he disappeared towards the comfort of his room.

~Sakura~

Sakura muttered a string of curses as she was forced to wear a kimono for the meeting with her betrothed, if she wasn't wearing chakra binders, she woud have went and tore the dress into two. It wasn't that she didn't want to wear it, it was that she was dying to release her pent-up frustrations about her engagement. She nearly demolished the Hokage's building (the reason for the binders) yesterday and much to her displeasure, Tsunade ordered her guardians or whoever they were to dress her up for the meeting.

"Saki do stop thrashing about, or you'll ruin the kimono." Sakura frowned, so what if she continued to thrash about, it wasn't like she was actually her biological parent and she had been living away from them ever since she was eight.

"Sakura Haruno, listen to your mother." The stern voice of the man who introduced himself as her father long ago ordered. But Sakura would not have any of it, her biological mother had died and this was just someone sent to protect her from the branch family so she continued to thrash about until the seal on her neck burned and immobilized her.

"I'm sorry dear, but we really have to get you fixed up. It would have been Lady Mebuki and Master Tamaki's will to see you happy during the time you woul be meeting your betrothed. That kimono is one of the dresses we have been able to save before the main clan's deaths." Sakura refrained from speaking and stopped thrashing about making the job a lot easier for the woman to fix her up and stopping the burning of the seal.

"I hate this..." Sakura said more to herself, but the woman tending to her answered anyway.

"It is not their will to force you into an arranged marriage, but your circumstances has forced them to take precautionary measures lest all hope be lost." Sakur turned her head towards the older woman she once called mother.

"Everybody loves keeping secrets from me." The woman nodded and she narrowed her eyes in return before hissing slightly.

"I sure hope so you are not lying to me about them being forced to do this as well... That is the only comfort I have, that even they had no choice or else, they would have made me grow up free from this." She said her voice calm but her eyes betraying the anger and sadness she was feeling.

"Nobody could ever lie to you, you would have easily felt it." Sakura smirked, she was correct, even if she did lie, she would have taken notice of it immediately.

"Still, I hate being engaged to the unknown."

"But the man you will be marrying is someone you know, I must say, you can even consider him as an acquaintance, if not a friend." Sakura drew her breath, great now think how awkward it would be if he was someone she was close with.

'Curse you otou-san for signing a blood-pact'