Despite what Neji warned her that day, Hinata didn't stop trying to get closer to him.
Well, she actually did stop, but only for a while. Yesterday, however, she finally managed to get the courage to try again, preparing a very small offering, as if hoping that would make him less mad with her.
Something that obviously didn't work, because, for the first time ever, Neji sought her out at the academy.
"I told you to stop" he threw the bag of onigiri at her feet, the contents scattering on top of the grass. Hinata looked down, her face falling as her body started trembling. She closed her fists and brought them to her chest, as if trying to protect herself. "At least have the guts to look at me" he hissed when he saw her defensive pose.
"N-Nii-san…" she muttered, fighting to do as he said. She gulped when her eyes met his angry ones.
"Stop calling me that!" he advanced, his pace brusque and violent. She gasped when he grabbed her from the top of her shirt, almost lifting her off her feet as he met her stare with his nose almost touching hers. "This fake show of respect of yours it's really pissing me off!"
"It's… It's not fake! I…!"
"Stop" he gritted out, roughly releasing her. Hinata stumbled back, but managed to retain her balance. "I'm having enough of your act. Fight me."
"Eh?" she looked up, confused, as Neji adopted the typical Hyuuga fighting position. She gulped, quickly shaking her head. "I… I don't want to…"
"Do it" he repeated, voice like a hiss. "You are bold enough to continue doing something I explicitly warned you not to, surely you can fight me if that's the case?" he asked, his words dripping with sarcasm.
Hinata shook her head again. "This is the academy. It's not the place to…"
"Shut up."
He moved fast, practically throwing himself at her. Hinata dodged in time, adopting a defensive stance, something that seemed to irk Neji, as he clicked his tongue and attacked even more fiercely. Hinata backed away, her feet landing on the discarded onigiri in the process, distracting her and making her fall.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow, but it never came.
Instead, when she looked at Neji again, he was back to a normal position, his face still scrunched up in a mighty frown. "You are pathetic, Hinata-sama. Never forget that."
And with that he turned around and left.
Hinata stayed there, watching his back disappear behind some trees. Her breathing was still shallow, and her heart was beating fast from the effort of a while back. She gulped, slowly coming up on her knees to stand up.
"What was that?"
She squeaked, scared of the voice that came out of nowhere. When she turned around, Sasuke was standing there, eyes wide and shock written all over his features.
She blushed. "Sasuke-kun… how… how long have you been there?"
"What does it matter?" his expression morphed from shock to anger, and he walked towards her, grabbing her from the upper arm and lifting her up. Hinata groaned a little at the forceful grip, and he backed away immediately. "Who is that guy? Why… why did he attack you?"
"Mmm…" Hinata bit her lip, glancing away. Sasuke had seen it. This was so embarrassing. "That's… Neji-niisan. He is my…"
"Cousin" he completed, making Hinata blink at him in confusion. "You told me once, last year, remember?"
She nodded, only then recalling last year's Rinne Festival. Sasuke had really good memory, to remember something that was most likely unimportant to him.
"Why was he attacking you?" he asked again, a little impatiently.
Hinata pursed her lips. "He hates me" she answered simply, with the truth. Sasuke looked taken aback, so she quickly explained before he could ask. "His father was my father's twin brother… and he died for something that involved me. He's been blaming me since."
"That sounds ridiculous" he scoffed, recovering from the surprise. "How old are you? Nine? What could you possibly have done to cause his father's death?"
"I…" the story was long, and she didn't feel like telling it after being attacked by Neji, but Sasuke looked insistent, as if he would not let go until she did, and so she took in a deep breath and explained as best as she could what happened over six years ago.
By the end of her tale, Sasuke was fuming. "That has even less to do with you! He's just taking out his frustration on you, and that's not fair!"
"It's… it's not like he doesn't have reason to be angry…" Hinata murmured, earning an annoyed glare from the boy.
"He does have reason, but it's not right that he takes it out on you… you are not the one responsible for the screwed up system your clan runs on."
Hinata winced. She knew he was right about the main-branch system of her clan being archaic and unfair, and she even agreed with him, but it was still painful hearing it be called out so openly.
"What were you trying to do, anyway?" he said, glancing down. Hinata followed his eyes and found the flattened onigiris on the grass. Just the sight of them was enough to make her eyes feel hot, but she resisted the temptation to cry.
"I want to breach the distance between us, and try to mend our relationship" she explained, voice soft and very low. "Since the beginning of the school year I've been trying to get close to him, and I thought that… I thought bringing him food so he'd have something to eat after training would help along that process… but he just got angry. He told me I was being spoiled and that I only wanted to feel good with myself, and that I was using him for that purpose. He ordered me to stop… and I didn't, and so he came today and…"
"Attacked you" Sasuke said when she didn't continue. He frowned. "And you just let him. Why didn't you attack back?"
She looked at him, genuinely surprised by his suggestion. "I couldn't! That would just widen the gap between us. He's already so far away… I don't want to cause any more animosity…"
"Seems to me he's the one causing animosity" he retaliated. Hinata shook her head.
"He's hurt… of the two, he's the one that mourns the fate of our family the most. I'm sad he takes it out on me, but… but I'm sure one day he'll heal… I hope he does, not for me, but for him."
"That doesn't give him the right to treat you that way. And from what you've told me, this has been going on for too long. Do you really think something will change if you keep insisting?" he asked. She smiled, a small and fragile thing.
"If I don't give up, it might" she said with as much conviction as she could.
Sasuke stared at her for a while, analizing her and making her nervous. Then, after what felt like forever, he snorted; "how stupid." She gasped, surprised. "Why are you behaving like a martyr? It's been over six years, no? Do you think hatred it's something so easily forgotten just because you won't give up?"
Hinata opened her mouth, but no words came out. Sasuke took the chance to double down. "Stop caring about him. Obviously if he's like that then it doesn't matter if you try to mend your relationship or not. He's already made up his mind."
"I understand what you're saying, but I also disagree. People aren't inmutable" Hinata countered, voice firm though still a bit low. "Besides, he's… he's family. He's my older brother. One isn't supposed to hate family."
At this, his eyes got steely, and while anger still emanated from them, it was of a different kind. Colder. "No?" he asked, lowly.
Hinata understood immediately where his thoughts had wandered to. "I mean, in my case with Neji-niisan…"
"He hates you for something out of your control" he interrupted. His hands clenched in fists at his sides. "He bullies you and dismisses you, and now he even attacked you, and you're saying that because he's family, you have to put up with it? You are the one that has to mend your relationship? When he is the one that destroyed it?"
"Sasuke-kun" Hinata whispered. She didn't believe he would listen to her, but, to her surprise, he actually stopped and looked at her, waiting, though he still seemed pretty incensed. She chose her words carefully. "Neji-niisan… is not Itachi. Our situations aren't comparable."
It was the wrong thing to say.
"Of course I know our situations are not comparable. Not even close. Why you would even think that they are is beyond me" he hissed, taking a step back. Hinata gasped, reaching out a hand towards him without thinking, but he had already closen up. "Just because he's your cousin it doesn't mean you owe him anything, but if you want to try and play at bein a martyr, then go ahead. I won't stop you."
"Sasuke-kun, that's not what I meant…" she tried, but he was already turning around, back trembling lightly.
"I'm leaving now. Enjoy whatever you're trying to do with that cousin of yours."
And with that he left, ignoring her all throughout the rest of the day.