"I know what you're trying to do."
Neji was standing in front of her, eyes cold enough to freeze her over. Hinata had just been returning from the dojo, after another exhausting training session with her father. Her body felt bruised and tender and she was sweaty, making her feel all the more vulnerable when her cousin ambushed her just out of the corner to her room.
She trembled, closing her fists in front of her chest and glancing down instinctively. She knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't help it. Neji scared her.
"You have the guts to try and humiliate me but not to look me in the eye?" he sneered. Hinata gasped, and quickly looked up.
"H-Humiliate…? What are you talking a-?"
"Stop" he cut her, making her shut her mouth with just that one sharp word. "Stop pretending like you don't know. Going around cooking like you don't have a whole household to do the job for you. On top of that, you keep sending me these bentos. What are you playing at? Is this your way to derive pleasure from your high-standing?"
"W-What? No!" Hinata was horrified at his conclusion. Neji simply narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching and trembling at his sides.
"Then what do you want? How many of these do I have to throw away for you to understand I want nothing to do with you? I'm not your personal project, the poor boy from the branch house you can appease your conscience with by giving him pesky offerings."
"That's not it!" Hinata said, voice louder. It's true that she had tried many more times after that first failed attempt to give Neji a bento. And every time, he would throw it away in a place where she could see exactly what he thought of her. But she didn't give up, because she was determined to mend her relationship with her cousin, and cooking for him was the only way she could think of to see it through.
Neji snorted, walking up to her, and it took every ounce of willpower in Hinata's body to stay still. When he was just in front of her, close enough she could feel the warmth coming off his body, he whispered, soft and low and lethal. "If you don't stop… I won't be held accountable for my actions."
He took a step back and looked down his nose at her, while she trembled, her face tilted to the ground and eyes closed. Shaking his head, he turned around to leave, but Hinata's voice stopped him before he could get too far away.
"I…" she started, gulping to try and wet her suddenly dry throat. She glanced at him timidly, but he had his back to her, so she couldn't see his expression. He wasn't walking away though, so she inhaled deeply and continued. "I do not want us to fight. I-I still remember when we were little… we were friends, no? I want us to return to that, and…"
"Shut up" Neji looked at her then, and Hinata felt what small courage she had gathered disappearing in an instant. "You are so selfish, Hinata-sama. Return to being friends? For what purpose? Your ease of mind?"
"No! That's not it, Neji-niisan! I just…!"
"Enough" he started walking away again, not without throwing a last comment full of venom. "This better be the last time, Hinata-sama. I don't like repeating myself."
And then he was gone, and Hinata was left feeling completely cold.