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Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View
Chapter Three: Means vs. End

"Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end."
― Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals/On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns

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Neji's education about The Hidden Leaf continued.

He now knew: Konoha East was owned by Lady Tsunade - a trailblazing surgeon in Konoha and former president of the medical school - while Konoha West was owned by Jiraiya. They'd been childhood friends - more if the rumors were to be believed, since the passing of Tsunade's husband when she was still young - and this property had once belonged to her grandparents. Over the years, they rented more toward older collegiates, and grad students, and never to freshman. Neji was surprised that so many of the tenants were involved in graduate work.

"Well what did you expect," Hanabi asked, recopying her notes. "They're all just about your age, after all - even if they didn't all skip grades and all of that stuff."

"I didn't skip grades," Neji corrected her. "I took an insanely heavy class load."

"And still managed to get into grad school early," she huffed. "Yes. I know. Now either help us mere mortals with our homework or go be smart somewhere else. "

Naturally, Neji had helped.

There was very little he wouldn't do when it came to making his cousins happy, whether it was taking an evening to help his cousin with a complicated assignment, or attending another party at Konoha West

"Hyūga," Kiba nodded to him. "How's that drink?"

"Surprisingly pleasant," he admitted, studying the lidded travel mug Hinata had provided him. "I would have thought spiced cider would be too sweet.'

"Yeah, well, the rum helps," Kiba snorted. "Or did you skip that step?"

"I did not," Neji's lips twitched up slightly, "but I am certain I did not make it as strong as some."

"Some people are pretty stupid about that," Kiba agreed, "which is why we used to have someone babysit the cider bar, until Shikamaru and Kankuro engineered those opticals on the liquor bottles. They'll only dispense so much. Kankurō added some facial recognition or some shit, because he's way extra when he makes anything, and they won't give one person too much at a time or too much through the night."

"That is rather ingenious."

"Yeah, those two are always coming up with something. Welp, I'm gonna go mingle. See ya, Neji!"

Neji sipped his drink, enjoying the warmth roiling in his bones as he absently scanned the crowd for Hinata.

Perpetually cold, he found her standing near the fire, her hands buried in the front pocket of a large sweatshirt. He eyed the shirt, and decided it wasn't hers - which meant it was Naruto's. Naruto appeared next to her in a similar hoodie, handing her a thermal cup, which she took gratefully.

"Ugh, she's so lucky," a girl behind him pouted. "Where did she even come from? One day she just shows up and it's like all Naruto sees at these parties. It's so unfair!"

The last word was punctuated with a petulant stomp of the foot.

"Maybe we should push her into the lake," the other muttered, earning a wicked giggle from her friend.

"You want to?"

Neji turned just in time to see them both jump when the person behind them said:

"I wouldn't suggest it."

"Sakura!" one of them put a hand to her heart. "Hi! We were just-"

"I know what you were 'just'," Sakura crossed her arms. "And I expect better of you Kaede. You, too, Akane."

"Sorry," they chorused.

"Don't apologize to me," she snorted. "Try turning around and apologizing to her cousin."

Neji would forever remember their mirrored mortification at finding him behind them, and the way they visibly paled. (He was later told they thought he was the scariest and most beautiful man they'd ever seen, but it was years before they could be within twenty feet of him without being terrified.)

"Ladies," he lifted his cup in a mock salute.

"We're sorry!" they squeaked as their words tumbled over one another.

"We wouldn't have-No, no We wouldn't! - We couldn't - we"

Neji held up a hand and they clattered to silence.

"I will accept your apology, with the understanding that you will keep a healthy distance from my cousin. Should anything happen to her, you will be the first place I look."

Akane looked between them. "You… you won't tell Naruto, will you?"

Sakura arched an eyebrow at them. "Will I have reason to mention it to him ever?"

"No," Kaede grabbed Akane's arm. "In fact, we were just leaving, weren't we?"

"Yeah," Akane agreed, eyes still wide and troubled. "Th...thanks for the party!"

The girls hurried off, leaving Sakura to shake her head.

"Sorry about them," she gave Neji a wry, tired smile. "They've been crushing on Naruto for ages, but he never had someone around to make them jealous."

"And you really think they won't be a problem?"

"They won't be," she looked off to where they were still mid-retreat. "They're good kids; just young and silly and jealous. They're allowed to make their stupid mistakes - it's part of growing up."

"As long as their mistakes don't extend to infringing upon my cousin's well-being, I can agree with that."

"It won't," she laughed. "In about ten minutes they'll realize how disappointed Naruto would be if they'd done something to Hinata, and feel really awful. I don't think we'll see them around for a while, but when we do, they'll probably go out of their way to be overly nice to Hinata."

"We'll see," Neji grimaced.

"If they try anything, I'll be right there to help you set them straight," she promised. "I'll even let you be the one to push them into the lake."

A smile twitched Neji's lips.

"It's a deal."

The quote in the beginning is sometimes paraphrased as "Treat people as an end, and never as a means to an end." A good lesson in general, no? Thank you for reading!