A/N: Figured I'd post this while hacking away at chapter 14 of my main Naruto AU, Surface Breaker (/s/13570086/1/Surface-Breaker)!
Remember, because Neji's father never died in this universe, he and Hinata are close (the way they always deserved to be, dang it)! ;)
"Hey, princess!" Hinata stiffens and winces at the nickname, the mocking in it, already knowing what's coming. She just does her best to keep walking, tightening her grip on her schoolbag. "How's it feel to have no soul?"
Hinata flinches. There's a rumor going around among the Leaf village kids about the Hyuuga and their pupil-less eyes, saying that their payment for their amazing Kekkei Genaki is that their souls belong to the devil, so they walk around the mortal plane without them, only to return to Hell when they die. It's cruel and unfounded and not true, she keeps telling herself, her elder cousin Neji reassuring her, too, but...it still hurts, and the idea...it scares her. Her nails dig into her palms. "That's...that's not true..." she breathes.
She blinks, and the bully who called her is right in her face, their noses basically touching. He's a year or two older and glaring at her something fierce. "What did you say to me?"
It takes her a moment to find her voice, lips trembling as she closes her eyes to gather herself. She knows what'll come if she fights back, but—she doesn't want to let this rumor stand either! If they want to spread it about her as the next clan heiress, fine—but this is Neji and Hanabi and Uncle Hizashi they're slandering, too! She swallows. "I-I said—" taking a breath, she raises her voice just a little, her head, too, opening her eyes to look him straight in the eye, "—t-that's not true! The Hyuuga are—"
"No-soul, no-soul, the princess is a no-soul!" the other kids start chanting, cutting her off and dragging her down, forming a chain to dance around her in some kind of creepy, almost wild dance. Hinata watches it all with wide eyes, goosebumps blazing across her skin, her small form starting to tremble. Tears fill her eyes, and she can feel her chest tightening the way it does before she has a panic attack. She wants to get away. She—she needs to get away—!
She tries to break through where she knows the weakest of the kids are, but the older boy pulls her back, the other kids spinning faster now to confuse her. "Where do you think you're going, she-devil?"
Hinata reels back at the name as if struck. "W-what? Why would you—?"
Naruto, coming out of the Academy the back way in hopes of avoiding his own bullies like Hinata, stops on a dime. He blinks at what he's seeing. What—what is this...?
"You're the next Hyuuga clan head. Your family has no souls, so you must be the next in line to be the devil's plaything, too, right?"
Hearing that, things make a little more sense. Naruto's heard the rumors, too, but he's not stupid enough to actually believe them. Nobody as protective as Neji or as soft as Hinata could ever be soulless. But that...that almost makes it worse because...he knows how being called that feels. The villagers say similar things about him all the time, even though he doesn't know why, what they mean. Hinata, at least, has an answer, but—damn it, that doesn't make it any better! It's still not fair, not right!
Hinata feels sick. She—she knows that can't be true, but— She shakes her head quickly, her breath getting caught in her throat. O-oh, no...! "N-no, that's—that's not—!" She's cut off when her throat starts to close, coughing into her hands, and the kids step closer, chanting louder. It just makes her fall closer to the precipice, tears leaking from her eyes, knees knocking, throat threatening to close all the way. "It's—it's not like that...! We're—we're just like e-everyone else...!"
They don't listen, though, because of course they don't (they never do, in Naruto's experience), just box her in and sing louder. Hinata's quaking legs give out, she falls to her knees, hands pressed over her ears as hard as she can, tears streaming down her face. She can't—she can't breathe—! "P-please...please...s-stop...!"
Naruto, from his place by the door, is shaking and trying not to hyperventilate himself, but it's out of fury, empathetic tears stinging his eyes. He wants to help, wants to rush over there and kick their asses, make them cry and beg, see how they like it! But if—if he goes over there, then...he's scared he'll just make things worse!
He clutches at the side of the building until his fingers scrape and bleed. This time is different from Ino and Sakura and Choji. Sure, two out of three of them were future clan heads, too, but…! He's sure that if he tried to help someone like Hinata, the Hyuuga Princess, someone whose family's jutsu is the most vital to the village, it'd just make things worse for her. They'd increase their taunting, up their bullying, inject the rumor mill with more about him and her and 'he's a monster, so of course he'd go for the devil's plaything!' He can already see it now, and no matter what he said or did to try to refute it, it would just blow up. He wouldn't be able to stop it, and he'd ruin everything just because he wanted to help!
But...but he hates just standing here, hates doing nothing, just watching this go down. It hurts, so much, like his heart's being ripped from his chest and stomped on. He doesn't really know what's up with her coughing and breathing, but Hinata's always been timid and shy, so Naruto's sure it has something to do with that. And yet, she's still...even now, she's...!
His keen ears can still hear her over that awful chanting. She's still telling them it's not true, that they're wrong, that the Hyuuga are proud and definitely not soulless, and her cousin and sister are the strongest the clan's seen in generations, so that must mean something! They've been blessed, so they can't be soulless! The other kids don't listen, but she keeps trying, never mind that her hands shake and the tears don't stop and it's getting harder and harder to breathe all the time...! Seriously, he's worried she'll pass out!
Finally, he can't take it anymore. He's stepping out of his hiding place and yelling before his brain can even catch up. "Hey—!"
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
A fierce wind whips in suddenly, the other kids scream, and in just a few seconds, all of them are on the ground, all the chakra points in their legs and some in their arms and torso totally taken out. It'll incapacitate them for several minutes, at least. They're groaning or cursing or crying out of fear (because they can't take what they dish out, Naruto thinks vindictively), and Naruto looks around for who did it, though he already has an idea.
"Lady Hinata," a gentle voice calls, even gentler fingers brushing hers. "Lady Hinata, it's all right now. It's just me."
Slowly, Hinata opens her eyes. She knows that voice, those hands, the ones that so very carefully take her hands away from her ears to hold in both of his. She sniffs, shrinking a bit at looking like this in front of him, again. She can't bring herself to meet his eyes. "N-Neji..."
A small smile leaves him, a tiny sigh of relief as well. At least she's not totally catatonic, hasn't fully given in to her panic attack. She's getting better. That must mean their meditation and calming exercises really are helping. He's glad.
He squeezes her hands gently. "Please, look at me, Lady Hinata." She hesitates, but does in the end, and his smile grows, softens with pride. "You did well. You told the truth, you tried to get away, you staved off your panic attack, and you fought until the end." She tilts her head, confusion coming in, for Naruto, too. He clenches his fists. Neji's never seemed like the kind of guy who'd just let something like this slide, so if he saw the whole thing, then why—? Neji shakes his head, reading her (and Naruto's) mind. "I only just got here now." She blinks, while Naruto sighs in relief. "But I know all of that for a fact because that's just how you are."
Hinata's eyes widen, a small gasp leaving her as her cheeks are dusted pink. Neji...! He...he really thinks...? "But—b-but I..." She coughs, wheezes a bit as she tries to catch her breath, and he rests a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles there. Naruto shuffles his feet anxiously. He wonders if he should run and get the nurse. She should still be here...
But then, Neji brings her small hand to his chest, over his heart, and Naruto...stops, undeniably intrigued. Hinata doesn't look confused, so maybe...this is something they do? "Breathe, Lady Hinata. In..." they inhale through their noses for a few long seconds, Hinata's shaky and uneven, hold it a few more, "...then out..." They exhale through their mouths just as slowly, Hinata coughing a bit. They repeat it a good few times, Hinata closing her eyes and pressing her hand a little more against Neji's heart so she can really focus on matching its rhythm.
After about two minutes, she's calm again, their breathing and heartbeats synced, and she doesn't stop herself from hugging him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Neji!"
Neji is shocked for a moment – Lord Hiashi's nephew or not, hugging a member of the Branch family still isn't something that's normally done – but he welcomes and cherishes it while he can. Hugging her back gently, he holds her close. "Of course, Lady Hinata. I'll always be here."
When they pull away, Neji works on gently drying her face and eyes with the handkerchief he's learned to always carry with him when he notices her looking at the other kids with a crestfallen expression. "What's the matter?"
She keeps her eyes away as she pokes her pointer fingers together, a tiny blush on her face. "I...I tried to fight back... I...I really did...but I..." She bows her head, fighting back a second wave of tears, fists curling in her dark blue pants. "I...I want to be strong...l-like big brother Neji...!"
Neji's eyes widen, breath catching, and then...then he laughs.
Hinata snaps up to look at him, confusion and hurt in her eyes, while Naruto wants to punch his lights out, and he waves a calming hand, hurrying to mend, "F-forgive me, Lady Hinata. T-that came out wrong." Taking a breath and clearing his throat, he offers, "What I meant was, there is more to strength than beating up schoolyard bullies."
"'More'...?" She cocks her head, trying to figure out what he means, but can't get a good sense of it. "Like what?"
Brushing off her clothes with delicate hands, he helps her stand up. "Don't worry. You'll learn in time." She pouts a bit, and he glances toward the sky. "It's getting late. Lord Hiashi will be worried if you're not home soon." Holding out his hand, he offers, "Shall we?"
Hinata looks from his hand to him and brightens hopefully. Reading her mind, he chuckles warmly. "Lee, Tenten, and I got an earlier start on training this morning, so we figured we'd end things early for once."
Lighting up, she grabs at his hand with both of hers like she's catching a fish in water. "Yay! Big brother Neji and I get to walk home together!"
He laughs again, a little more this time, and he nods, tightening his grip some. "Yes, we do. I'm sure Lord Hiashi will understand why we're late once I explain." Leaning down so she can hear, in a kind of stage-whisper, he says with a grin, "Though perhaps we'll leave out the part about the dumplings."
Naruto blinks when she smirks right back at him, having never seen that expression on her face before, but he thinks...he likes it! He likes seeing a more mischievous side of her! "Maybe we'll sneak some home for Hanabi and Uncle Hizashi, too!" She giggles conspiratorially.
Neji winks. "I like the way you think, princess!"
She beams. That nickname is safe with Neji.
(Neither of them notices the new word dawning on the back of her neck.)
They're just stepping out into the setting sunlight when Neji glances back over his shoulder, straight at Naruto.
Naruto jumps, whirls so he's plastered against the wall by the back door so all Neji can see are the tips of his small fingers. His heart pounds in his chest, and he squeezes his eyes shut. Please don't be mad, please don't be mad, please don't be mad...!
Looking back down at his and Hinata's joined hands, Neji hums thoughtfully. He knows he saw a flicker of light on Naruto's face when he spun away, and if he didn't know any better, he'd say it was tears...and his fingers, too, are definitely cracked and bleeding, like he'd just barely been holding himself back from getting involved... And come to think of it, he does seem to remember seeing a flash of orange and hearing a shout of some kind just before he stepped in...
He looks back again, but Naruto's gone, and Neji almost feels bad. He didn't mean to scare him. Of course, it could also just be that Naruto thought he'd get the wrong idea if he stayed. Still, Neji's grateful that he didn't end up helping, despite how it made him feel. If Naruto did come to Hinata's rescue instead of him, things could have been worse for her, loath as he is to admit it. He thinks Naruto knew that, too, and that's why he hesitated.
Naruto is a good boy, if his pranks a bit tiresome, and he wishes the others wouldn't be so hard on him. He still doesn't understand why the adults in the village and even a good number of the children are so awful to him. His father almost explained it once years ago, roundabout and complicated and not in so many words, but it hadn't made sense to even Neji's genius mind. Perhaps on purpose, he thinks now, and in a way, he understands. Whatever it is, he's heard some of the other adults get close to spilling, too, and then be shushed by others, saying they're not allowed to talk about that. To Neji, that indicates some kind of decree from the Third.
It's all very interesting...
"Neji, look! The Firelily birds are coming! They're early this year!"
Neji does look, follows Hinata's pointing to the sky, where he does indeed see the pretty birds flying in. They usually don't come for another month, but it has been colder this month than in recent years. He hums. "I see. I wonder if that means we're getting an early winter this year." Hinata gasps excitedly and starts talking about all the fun things they can do in the snow, and Neji laughs—until he catches sight of something on the back of her neck. Putting his other hand out to stop her, he cuts her off gently, saying, "Hold on a second, Lady Hinata."
He drops to his knees beside her, and when he reaches for her neck, she gets worried. "Did they...did they write something mean again?" It wouldn't be the first time.
Honestly, that's Neji's first thought, too, but—that all flies out the window when he sees what the word really is. It steals his breath. "No, Lady Hinata," he breathes. "It's...it's something else entirely."
She blinks and tries to see, even though she knows it's impossible. "What do you mean?"
Stopping her twirling before she falls and hurts herself, he chuckles and smiles. "It's a good word, Lady Hinata. It says Strong." Hinata's eyes widen. "And that's exactly what you are." He pokes her heart. "In here."
Hinata reaches back to feel her new word, trace where she thinks it is with reverent fingers. Neji gently corrects her. "R-...-really? Someone...someone really thought that about...about...?" She can feel tears wanting to start, but for once, they're happy ones.
Neji nods, smile growing and softening at once. "They must have, and very hard, at that. That's how our world works, after all." He pulls his collar down to show her his own word along his collarbone and grins a little more. "And look! Even better, we almost match!"
She gasps and lights up, reaching out to trace his word, too, and he snorts and then full-on laughs at all the questions she peppers him with as they make the rest of their way back home. Mainly, who it could be that thought such a thing about her. He agrees that it really is curious, his own word's origin, too...
Of course, then he remembers Naruto.
Shikamaru told him about Sakura and Ino getting their good words once Naruto made sure they were okay after a bullying incident a few days back…
That's half of them now. Half of the Konoha 10, at least most likely, Naruto-touched. How curious…
And, he realizes with a start, that that also makes three…
Once is chance, twice is coincidence…and three…
Three is a pattern.
(And four…well, he'd call that a conspiracy.)
A/N: The 'once is chance, twice is coincidence, and three is a pattern' quote I first heard on Teen Wolf, lol, and I thought it sounded cool enough to use here. Seemed like a Neji thing to think. Hopefully obviously, the fourth addition was my own creation. Just thought it fit, at least in this fic's universe.
Not sure if anyone noticed that Hinata never mentioned her father in this, even if she mentioned Hanabi and Hizashi! That was on purpose, because her father's still a dick to her in this AU, and it's why she's still so shy and timid and has panic attacks and all (and while they don't call what happened when she freaked out during the Chunin Exams, hyperventilated and cried while trying to shield herself, a 'panic attack' in canon...I mean, what else is that? And my brain loves the pain, so...)! Neji's gotten used to helping her with her panic attacks over the years, and he and his father are actively working to help her stop them or at least lessen their frequency and severity when they do pop up. So, in this AU, she's closest with Neji and adores Hanabi, and she also secretly views her Uncle Hizashi as her father instead! I just want Neji and Hinata to be happy and good cousins, man! (And notice how Neji said, 'I'll always be here' - meaning he does not die in this universe, dang it! I am having exactly none of that crap! X'D)
Since this is my last (technically) pre-written chapter besides Shikamaru's and the ending, the future few chapters might take a little longer, just fair warning! But since I'm also really enjoying writing this in between working on Surface Breaker, we'll see! lol. You never know!
Thanks so much for reading!