Alpha
001. Caged
She follows the lines of the Seal on his forehead with her eyes because she does not have the liberty or right to touch him, but she wonders when he will realize that the cage they put him in is old and rusted and just on the edge of falling apart - because she will hold the key one day but it won't be enough to just open the door, she's determined to take the gilded metal house apart screw by screw.
002. Flying
He thought that the birds were the most envious of animals as they soared freely in the sky with their wings and hollow boned bodies, but now naked, bare, sweating, and intertwined in her trembling form, he discovers a different way to fly.
003. Perfection
He is far from perfect no matter what others might say and what his clan would boast. He is cold and indifferent to his clan and he has removed himself emotionally from his family a long time ago except for bitterness and hate, and except for her. She is far from perfect, a fact you would hear so often from the Main House it would make someone sick. But somehow she is perfect to him and she wouldn't change anything about him.
There's pain, and there's anger, and there's the unjustness of the world, but years down the line when her soft fingers gently trace the abominable lines of the Seal in comfort, he realizes this is where he wants to be.
004. Genius
He's a genius, they say, watching him spin and kick, twisting his body fluidly in the renowned Hyuuga art. He has been self-raised, self-determined, and self-taught. He refuses to conform to their old ways, but he still learns their secret arts before they can offer to teach him. His path is clear, his movement is fluid, and his Sight is the best in several generations.
But he falters when she closes her eyes and walks away from him.
005. Beds
When she was five, warm and secure in the ways only children were, Hinata always snuggled into the futon excitedly, waiting for her mother to come and tell her another story of the Protector who could do no wrong and save her from everything she never wanted. When Hinata was ten, shoulders slumped and eyes weary, she usually slipped into the blankets tired and broken at the end of the day, falling into a dreamless sleep from exhaustion. When Hinata was fifteen, newly moved into her own apartment, she grappled with Neji for the first time in the most awful way as he pushed her back down and she screamed for him to stop. When Hinata is twenty, now after Neji has gotten over the worst of his possessive phrase and they are settling into more normal days, now after she accepted that she might just love him more than she and he could imagine, she lays tender and plaint under the blankets and warm in his arms.
006. Playing games
Sometimes Neji thinks they are just playing at being family. Going by the rules and pretending smile and care for one another while they really couldn't give a darn deep down. He finds the idea of the Hyuuga Clan as a family a joke, because they're not. And when his mother asked him why he thought so once, he said that was is why they were called a Clan and not a Family.
007. Passion
It's hot and blazing and it consumes you when you are not ready. It bleak and needy and want and lust and everything you thought maybe you've become immune. But in the end it is red and fiery, and when Naruto explodes into the flames that surrounded Konoha in a protective barrier, you remember one drunken night; a few fumbled kisses, and a happiness that is right in front of you if you would just reach out and grab it.
008. Stolen
When Neji finally tastes the warmth of her mouth he feels a rush of happiness, pride and arrogance. She is shy and soft, just like she always been, but he knows her better than anyone and he doesn't pull away and soon she is kissing him in return. When he pulls back and Hinata flushes looking away, he smirks behind his smile. Because he has stolen the biggest treasure from them all, and the Hyuuga are still clueless of what he's done.
009. Sweets
Neji had an uncontrollable sweet tooth when he was younger, when he had the luxury of forgetting once in a while that his father was never coming back, when he had smiled unrestrained even if it had been rare. Now he had outgrown the inclination the same way he had outgrown happiness and bitterness in turns. These days he turns away from the melted sugars because he thinks he's found the one thing he's always wanted and that now life is the sweetest thing of all.
010. Control
It was all about control: the way the body has to be relaxed, feet spread shoulder width apart, palms held front. It was all about control: walking past her in the halls, bowing the slightest bit short of being insulting, speaking when they demanded but only giving them the words they would not want to hear. It was all about control: the charka seeping away from his palms and fingers, the legs swung in a perfect arc, the kunai held in his hand and buried in the grass-nin's lung.
It was all about control and the every bit he didn't have as he stood trembling in the shadows, watching as she sat in meadow in the sun, light reflecting off her lustrous hair and happily flushed cheeks. He wouldn't step out into the light because she might be smiling now but if she knew she was not alone and that it was he who stood watching her, the smile would be gone. He wouldn't move closer to her because he wouldn't be able to stand it when her bright shining eyes whirled around to see him and dim. Worst of all would be if he walked out into the sun and she turned to see and smile at him, because it was all about control, and the every bit he didn't have.
011. Midnight Snack
He finds her wondering in the kitchen late at night when the servants have all gone to bed. He slips behind a wooden beam and feels a flash of disgust that she doesn't even sense him behind her. She wanders between the counters and she is careful to be quiet as she makes her dinner. The Main family has taken to eating the evening meal without waiting for her to end her training. He hates her, he is sure he does, but as he stares at her small back and the flowing curve of her nape, he is slightly mesmerized. Some day, he thinks, it wouldn't be that bad to have someone to come home to like this.
012. Too Serious
They say he's too serious. That he needs to loosen up once in a while. They all think that he is wound up too tight and he's going to miss all the fun things in life.
Coming from a prestigious clan like the Hyuuga, people knows he has been raised that way, but sometimes his team mates and friends would tell him that they wished he would relax once in a while in their presence. Let down some of his guard. Let them in, and trust them.
They rarely see him smile, laugh even less. Sometimes, wistfully, Ten Ten looks at him and tells him that he should let them in and trust them. And he knows what she really means and wants, that she wants to be the one able to see his weaknesses, but it never happens.
He stands tall and powerful. He is unmoving.
Yet when small, hesitant hands reach out for him, all he can do is buckle. And when she smiles, shy but certain, all he can do is respond.
013. Falling
He falls, just a little bit, slipping on the wet leaves from the previous night's rainfall. He catches himself, grabbing hold of a branch before he can fall all the way to the bottom of the forest floor. Naruto has fallen straight to the mud earlier, but Naruto had picked himself up laughing and is now far ahead of the group.
014. Need
There are many things you don't admit to yourself. Over the years you've come to understand that there are some things better left unsaid. You never mention it, but you feel like you need her more than air sometimes, and the way she is oblivious to it almost makes you want to hate her.
015. Shinobi
Have you ever wanted to make someone's dream come true? So did he, but he wasn't the prince come at long last to rescue the princess. He was trained and raised to be a ninja, and although he had questioned the choice at one time or another, he had never regretted it like this before.
Because she was waiting to be rescued, even if she didn't know it yet, and it wouldn't be by him, no matter how much he wanted it.
016. Blush
It starts from between her breasts, flowing up and outwards. It reaches her shoulders, past her neck and onto her cheeks. It makes the skin of your fingers tingle as you pause your hand slightly above. It makes her pink and rosy and delightful. It creeps up her upper body and darkens her colour by the second. It makes you flustered, annoyed, joyous, bitter, happy, and angry in turns. It shows she cares.
You want to make her do it again.
017. Want
The warmth of the sun, the bright ivory jacket in the old department store, the smooth unmarred skin of a forehead, the soft coo and pliant feathers beneath your finger tips, the newly made fine set of kunai, the air flying past you gently, the shiny compact black weapon pack from the weapons stand, the soft tender words, the pair of sturdy boots in the display window, their respect, freedom, and her smile.
Everything you ever wanted.
018. Power over you/him/her
Sometimes it's not enough that he is the Head of the Hyuuga, the Seal is broken, and he has her future in the palm of his hand, because when she looks out to the blue sky, he's still not sure its him she sees.
019. Training
The log is old and beaten, the wood falling to splinters and holes made from shiriken and kunai cover its surface. There's blood there too, but what he will remember most from this training post is the way its supports her body as her head is thrown back, the sweat dripping down her neck, and the way his pelvis digs into hers.
020. Didn't mean to...
There are a lot of things Neji didn't mean to do, but it doesn't change that fact that he has still done them (hurt, pain, murder, the blood dripping from her chest, and the thought if I can't have her no one will).
021. Lust
When Itachi sees her again, he recognizes her but almost can't believe that it is she. She hasn't changed much from when she was younger, though she had grown physically filling in her in curves; a soft lush bust, the firm span of her waist, silky length of her hair, long stretch of her legs, and her body makes him burn. But it is the soft, tender intensity that she had always given off that made him instantly acknowledge her. She still makes him wish for a better world where things could have been possible; time has just added another ache.
022. If, only if
She laughs at his words. She smiles in his presence. She wraps her arms around his. She curls up into his embrace. She walks unburdened next to him. She looks ahead with bright glowing eyes. She stands tall with straight shoulders. She reaches for his hand. She leans into his touch. She parts her lips under his. She turns to greet him hello. She looks up to wish him 'welcome home'. She shines only for him.
023. Change
Five years down the road, Hiashi looked up and saw how things really were. Hinata walks soft but sure as Neji follows silently a foot behind, Hanabi is worn and jaded from loneliess but not knowing it, Uchiha Sasuke has run away from the village only to come back a month ago, Uzumaki Naruto is two weeks off from being passed the title of the Hokage, and his clan avoids looking into his eyes instead they carefully watch his oldest daughter and his nephew for something he only has an inking of.
He remembers when he used to pick Hinata up and throw her in the air jovially, and when her tiny hands used to clench at his kimono cloth shyly as she stared out at her cousin and uncle. Now when he speaks to her in the hallways she stands behind Neji as he hides her with his body, as if to protect her, and her small hands fist gently at his nephew's sleeves. When she used to look into his eyes happily, now she stares back pensive and shy. Her eyes used to shine with her love for him, and the love is still there, but it is weighed down and burdened with years of responsibility, grief, and pain.
Hiashi used to be the most important man in Hinata's life, but now Neji stands next to her and his nephew refuses to give up the place to anyone else.
024. Is this really love?
Ten Ten waits for him at the end of the training. She waits for him outside the Tower when he comes back from a mission. She smiles and laughs at his rigid ways. He grins warily at her antics. They are long time comrades who over time are now long time partners. They go to a movie or dinner once a week. They train together when ever they find the time. She makes him bentos for the long days and he buys her flowers for special occasions.
They eat, sleep, and train together. Her family likes him well enough, his mother finds her very nice. Their friends think the two of them are good match, his clan believes she will be an acceptable candidate. They've settled well into their relationship and they are content.
But there is a yearning inside of him that hasn't stopped.
025. Skilled hands
Neji is improving everyday, learning deeper and seeing further with the ways of the Hyuuga Bloodline. His steps are sure and balanced, and he gives no quarter without inflicting some damage.
Hiashi steps back and dodges the palms that head towards them, then blocks the fingertips that aim for fine spots he has never seen. He aims and lands a soft palm on his nephew's shoulder, but off the mark as the boy dodges at the last moment. Sweat drips off the both of them and Hiashi ponders that another hour would the most the two of them could last.
Hinata sits on the wooden boards off to the side and performs the tea ceremony to no one and allowing the tea to cool slowly in the spring air. Hiashi turns with bittersweet pride as he evades another of Neji's unusually fierce attacks today. Neji is growing still, and Hiashi now dodges palms more than he lands; yet Hinata is still far from where she should be.
An hour later, the sparring is halted and Hiashi sits down to taste the tea and watches his nephew with wondering eyes as Neji pulls off his sweat soaked shirt to have the blushing Hinata attend to his wounds with the bandages and ointment jars held gently in her frail hands.
026. The way things are
Hiashi is half of a whole. The Elder Council argues with Tsunade about her gambling ways. Hanabi wants to be strong enough to protect her loved ones. Kakashi stands and loses himself in his memories in front of the stone tablet at dawn and dusk. The Lady Hyuuga is bitter about being treated as a pawn. Iruka is slowly raising the new generation of ninjas to be human rather than a weapon. The Hyuuga Clan is tense with the notion there might be a revolution. Naruto stands to become Hokage in another three to five years as the youngest to receive the title. The could-have-been Lady Hyuuga is melancholy, missing her much loved deceased husband and proud of how her son has grown. Sasuke has walked away from all his responsibilities to have his vengeance. Neji follows his cousin like a shadow. The Aburame Clan is quietly gaining in power. Hinata is bent but not broken. Konoha is growing.
027. Cry
She never does cry. She trips, stammers, blushes, and shies away but she never cries. She ducks her head, looks away, never meets anyone's eyes, flinches at the lightest touch, bits her lips, and bows her body as if she's constantly under attack but she never cries.
While Sakura tears overflow when Sasuke walks away, while Naruto gains a runny nose and itchy red eyes the day after when someone new acknowledges him, later down the line while Ten Ten bursts into tears when she and Neji doesn't work out, when Sasuke heaves for air in defiance of the salty water trails on his face, and when Hanabi screams in denial as her heart is broken for the first time as her special one is taken down in a mission - she is stable.
She whispers and doesn't shout. She walks soft and light. She slips past people with drawn in shoulders. She stammers and shies away from contact. She is quiet and tender and others start to notice she unbelievably strong in the face of life's tragedies. Naruto hates crying because he knows it will get him nowhere, she has stopped altogether.
Years down the line while Neji tries to move her heart (he has yet to realize he always has), he will need to understand she has stopped crying not because she is numb but because there is no longer a tragedy that can break her; haven't been for a long time.
028. Hope/Wish
The shooting star flashes briefly in the sky before dying out. A young girl training in the courtyard looks up and looks away frowning, telling herself she doesn't believe in such fairytales and pushes down the urge to make a wish. A young man walking down the open hallways sees the star and continues moving, not believing in such things and also not believing he is worthy of such things. A young women sitting on the wooden boards to the family garden smiles and offers a prayer.
029. Wrong Wrong Wrong
This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as she accepts the mantle of the Hyuuga name. This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as she bows to her Elders and waits for the ceremony to finish. This is wrong, she thinks as she sees Hinata and Neji watching from the sidelines with the villagers and not part of the Hyuuga sect. The two of them have abandoned the Hyuuga name.
This is wrong, Hanabi thinks as her body straightens in preparation for a bow. Hinata and Neji are smiling gently in her direction but they standing next to each other, and she stands alone.
030. Naked
"So, err..." Naruto scratched the back of his head with the free hand, the other holding onto the knot of his towel at his waist. He was way too tired and it was way too late for this. "I thought this was the men's pool." He said as Hinata sunk deeper into the hot spring flushed.
"It's co-ed." Neji clipped from in front of her.
Naruto blinked. "Oh, cool." And slipped into the hot water.
Hinata shrunk herself behind Neji's back and tried to bury her trembling self into him. Neji stood tall and stiff, allowing her to use him as a shield.
"Um, not to be rude or anything, and not that I have any experience." Naruto started as he relaxed in the water. "But I thought people outgrew the bathing-with-family thing after a certain age."
031. Heroes are overrated
Neji muffles her cries as he surges into her. She jerks and tenses her muscles but she can't close herself off from him. He holds her wrists together above her head with one hand and the other flows over her body, smoothing over skin and sinew, memorizing each curve and dip. He presses down on her and forces her legs open wider. He is joined with her as a man can be with a woman and although she whimpers in protest, he simply kisses her softly.
"Hinata." He breathes against her lips and moves once more.
"Stop." She whispers before arching her body inevitably.
He should stop and pull out, apologize for ever having cause her pain and for ever taking her against her will, but what he does and what he should do are two different things. He knows if he backs off now there will be someone else who is waiting to take his place in her life.
Neji knows no one achieves anything by being passive and he has always gone after what he wants regardless of the obstacles and the odds. And Neji wants her, soft and fluid under him, acknowledging him as a man, and a man who will claim everything about her.
She feels betrayed and it hurts her heart: she can't believe that it is he who is doing this to her and who is causing her pain. But that is all right, he can stand not being her hero (he'll leave that title for Naruto), if all of her belongs to him.
032. Laughter
It's soft and quiet; you would almost miss it if you weren't paying attention. It's warm and brief; almost like a breeze, but you grab onto to it as hard you as you can anyways. Her eyes are bright and her smile is hidden behind her palm, but for her to laugh again, you would gladly go the lengths.
033. What we once lost
"Happy birthday." She whispers as she hands him the bear.
He stares at the brown teddy: it's once dangling left eye now back in the socket, the half ripped right leg now sewn back together, the once depleted padding was now again full, the stains and dust gained through the years were gone, his name still stitched precisely on the bottom with white thread - the whole toy restored back to it's former glory. His mother had thrown the raggedly broken stuffed bear away a month ago, it had been old and dirty, and he had grown up from the comfort of stuffed animals a long time ago.
"Thank you."He whispers back as he holds on tightly to the teddy bear his father had given him that time years ago.
034. Sinful
She was driving him insane. It was blazing and humid and another sickening average mid-summer day in Konoha as the heat wave carried through. But if she didn't stop eating that ice cream cone soon, he would not be responsible for his actions. It was hot enough with the regular heat without his body reacting and warming him up more. He breathed a sigh of internal relief from his place in the shadows as she ate the last of her cone. He tensed and veins bulged around his eyes when she walked into a shop and came out with a single stick Popsicle. He bit off a curse and floundered for his failing control.
Hinata wiped the sweat off her forehead and she wondered in concern how much longer her cousin was going to follow her around the market. It was way too hot for this. She popped the cold treat into her mouth and sucked.
035. Blindness
The first time that Naruto sees, he is confounded in what he thinks is happening. It's in the way Neji drops Hinata off for training and always comes to pick her up at the end of the day. It's in the way her shoulders sag in relief at the sight of her team mates and the way her eyes gain that desperate gleam as she searches for an explanation to get away from her cousin. It's in the way Neji casually places a hand on Hinata's shoulder, cheek, the small of her back, and the way she trembles at the soft touch.
Naruto waits and observes until he is proven correct in what he sees. He waits again, but no one else seems to realize or recognize what is happening. There is a dark possessive air around Neji and Hinata closes herself off from the world more and more.
The first time Naruto takes a step towards Hinata with resolve, Neji locks gazes with him. I won't stop you, the pale white eyes say, but you just might break me.
The future Hokage pauses, frozen at that moment. He sees Hinata's frail form just behind Neji as the Branch Member separates her from the rest of the world. He sees her standing with her body drawn in and trembling slightly as her cousin places a hand on the bottom curve of her spine, and he sees Neji's usual stiff rigid stance as he stands tall and powerful against the world.
But he also sees how Neji will fall and crumble when Hinata is freed from his side and if she will no longer stand next to him. The Leaf is low on ninja count and the Hyuuga are getting closer to healing the rift between the two Houses. The Leaf needs all active ninjas to protect it's reputation and borders, and the Hyuuga have never been better in the past century then when they are observing the possibility of the distance closed between the Main and Branch Houses as they observe the brightest stars of the Main and Branch children. As a stubborn ninja Naruto had never stood down in his beliefs, but as one learning to be a leader; he has started to learn that some things comes at a price.
So Naruto closes his eyes painfully for now when Hinata's head lifts up, and walks away.
036. Blood Stains
He would kill for her. It is his duty as the Branch member to protect the Main family from harm. He does kill for her. He walks a step behind her as her guard and takes out any who comes to harm her directly or indirectly. He also kills to have her, as he buries another kunai into the foreign suitor's heart where he has blocked the chakra point earlier in the fight. When morning comes, there would be a report of how an enemy nin has tried to unsuccessfully steal the Hyuuga's secrets on the Hokage's desk.
037. Water
He finds her on top of a lake practicing her chakra manipulation. She is like a water nymph, ethereal and beautiful beyond words and seducing him with her movements. The sun is high and it illuminates her as she swirls. He leans on to the trunk of a tree and watches her from the forest line until the sunset and she slips into the water for a swim after the hard work out.
038. This is not love
She gasps from under him as her body tenses in release, but her eyes are distant after the lovemaking as she stares off to the side shoji doors. He frowns. She has not had human contact for weeks now, but he can't tell what she is thinking of. His eyes narrows as he gazes at her, but pushes it out of his mind. He curls her up in front of him and drifts off into a restful doze. Beside him she is thinking of the kunai she has managed to secret away under the mattress and the best time for her to attack him would be the next time they engage in this particular activity.
039. Innocence
Ten years later when they are the Head of the Hyuuga, where the Clan is no longer divided, when Hanabi is on the brink of having her own first child, when their own children laugh and giggle without the impending Seal in their future, when Sasuke and Naruto are almost emotionally ready to admit they are both mutually in love with each other, she still blushes under his gaze. How marvellous.
040. Desires
She wants him with a fierceness that is strange and new to her, and frightening. She has never known that it was in her to feel this way about something, and most especially about him. He makes her burn when he walks into a room and the way he makes her flush is different than her embarrassed blushes from before. But she gathers her logic and common sense and chains the feeling deep and tight inside of her, because it must never be set free.
041. Secrets
It was her little secret, her truth that she would not share with anyone. He made her warm on the inside when he walked next to her and she smiled happy at the thought of him during the day. He was tall and strong as he spoke with her and his hands were calloused from training but gentle as they brushed the hair from her face. She loved him, but did not believe he loved her.
042. Duty
"I hate you." Naruto said accusingly, dripping in slime and murky water from the swamp.
Sasuke grunted. "Feeling's mutual." He brushed some more moss off of his sleeve.
Sakura's eyes bulged when she saw them as they entered the camp. "What happened to you two?!"
Sasuke made a noise of disgust and Naruto shook off the swamp water, spraying the immediate area around him, much to the camper's dismay. "I am never taking another mission in this region again!" The blonde declared petulantly and pulled off the water plants from his hair. The Uchiha started to rummage in his pack for a change of clothes.
"What happened to you guys?" Ino asked in fascination.
To a corner Shino and Kiba stood next to each other blandly, as Hinata muffled her giggles with her hands from behind them.
043. Hate Hate Hate
Hanabi hates him the most. There is no one else that she hates more in her life.
Hanabi hates him because he is a Branch Member and yet has been praised as the genius of the Clan. Hanabi hates him because he is stiff and arrogant and acts above his place. Hanabi hates him because he is more powerful than she can hope to be.
But she hates him the most because he stole her away. He had taken Hinata away from her.
Hinata who was Heir and weak and timid and loved Hanabi unconditionally.
Hanabi hates Neji because he took away the one thing she thought would always be hers (Hinata's heart), and he doesn't deserve it at all.
044. Broken
She snaps her eyes awake. She doesn't gasp, or jerk, or breathe heavily. She stares immobile up at the white ceiling from the medical bed and instead sighs gently. She stays still, mindful of the instructions from the doctor earlier in the day. She regulates her breathing and calms her body to decrease the stress on her heart. She blinks and sees the palm turn into a fist with two fingers extended as prelude to the pain and her defeat. She blinks and she see a bright orange back as a fist drips with her blood and Naruto promises to take her cousin down. She blinks again to hold back the tears because Neji couldn't save her and she couldn't save Neji.
045. Parents
Five-year-old Hyuuga Jiyuu looked up longingly at the tub of double chocolate chip cookie dough vanilla ice cream in the grocery freezer in front of him. He heard a delighted babble and turned to see his one-year-old sister, Tsubasa, giggling and reaching out open arms above their father's shoulder towards the same item from her place perched in his arms. Jiyuu thought quickly and tugged on the leg of Hyuuga Neji's pants. The father looked down at his son from his preoccupation of wonder at the different kinds of bread available. The child's lavender tainted eyes he had inherited from his mother were wide.
"Can we get Kaa-san her favourite ice cream?"
046. Heirs
Four years down the line, Hinata resigns as the pseudo-heir. She is tired of the games they play and leaves the title back in the Hyuuga Councils' hands to do with as they wish. Hanabi is quiet and silent for the next months as the Hyuuga clan absorb the shock of tradition being broken and does not reply when the shock dies down and she is offered the title. She is still, and then she stands, her body so small for such a burden to fall on, and walks away. And the next day she humbly requests of her father to let her marry outside the clan even if she must adorn the Caged Bird Seal. Neji stares ahead, white eyes blank, when they offer him the place of Heir. Slowly his head turns to the left, staring out past the wooden doors and walls which separate the space between the Hyuuga Compound and the apartment Hinata has rented out in the East end of Konoha. He rises languidly and turns away. With his back he tells them that it is not his place.
The Head of the Clan and the Hyuuga Council now stare at the empty place where the successor was to sit. No one has accepted to be the Heir.
047. Injury
She stands outside his door, one hand raised to knock, the other holding the medicinal basket to her hip. She stands unmoving, fist raised, knuckles exposed, for several long moments. She watches his shadow from the shoji screen as he wraps his hand awkwardly, with one end of the bandage held by his teeth. She should knock on the door! A tremble runs through her body and slowly she bends and places the basket of healing creams and bandages on the floor in front of the door. Then she turns and escapes on silent footsteps as she had been trained to.
Inside the room, veins bulging around his eyes, Neji glares at the transparent walls and feels a wave of self-loathing.
048. Proper Conduct
"You do not go around proclaiming you might be sexually interested in the same gender." Neji growled out at Naruto. "You are the Hokage, you must follow proper conduct, and not set yourself up for political suicide!" The Council Advisor bit out fiercely at his ruler.
"Just like how you don't go around molesting your own cousin, right?" Naruto replied, eyes defiant.
The Hyuuga paused, staring into hard blue eyes. He took a breath. They have not touched this subject since that time when Naruto walked away two years ago. But he sees they will soon. He tilted his head in acknowledgment but he does not reply in affirmative or negative.
"We've assassinated other political leaders in various countries for the aspect of the same thing." The Advisor spoke calmly.
"Well," Naruto said as he bounced off from the top if his desk where he had been sitting cross legged, "it's a good thing I don't play by the rules then."
049. Chains
She races through the walkway, past the empty hallways, and into the main path. She crosses the open courtyard and rushes through the wooden corridors. Her heart is beating faster than she can remember ever doing before. Her heart beats so loud in her ears that she is afraid, every second, every moment that it is by this sound that he tracks her. She races past the shouji doors of the lifeless complex where she has been contained alone for weeks. It is finally her chance to escape. After weeks of isolation, after years of his behaviour.
She runs, heart pounding, sweating dripping, breath heavy as the sight of freedom is as close as the main doors ten feet away in front of her. She is almost there. Free. She just needs to make it past those doors and find someone, anyone, (Naurto) who can help her.
Then he steps out from the side of the huge wooden gate and her eyes widen. Dread floods her as denial surges through her entire being.
NO!
But she is going too fast to stop her momentum and she slides right into his waiting arms. He closes them tightly around her frightened being.
"I love you." He says as he buries his face in her neck.
Her shoulders sag. Her will breaks. Her body falls limp. She shakes in despair as he repeats the words over and over.
"I love you. I love you. I love you."
She makes no move to break away as he bends and picks her up off her legs and takes her back to (his side) the room she had just, almost, escaped from.
"I love you." He murmurs setting her back into the bed.
"Love you too." She whispers brokenly in his embrace.
050. Oiroke no Jutsu! (Sexy no Jutsu)
"Hey, hey! Neji, come look at this!" The blonde bombshell with C-cups, dressed in the latest trends of tight tops and loose bottoms, waved her hands excited at him.
Neji ignored her and refused to move until the girl gave an exasperated sigh and ran over. She wound her arms around his and pulled him down the market path.
"You know Neji," the girl said, tightening her grip as he made to pull away, "if you keep behaving like this, I'm going to think you didn't want to go shopping with me."
"Naruto." He grounded out. "I didn't want to be here in the first place."
Currently they were undercover on a sensitive SS-class information-gathering mission. Naruto had been bored of sitting in front of a desk all day and had argued that a double SS mission would make use of a Hokage's skills. It did but as the Hokage the Elder Council did not wish to let the Rokudaime leave the village. Naruto had argued with them for a long tiring negotiation, until he said he would be taking a member of the Council with him so they could be sure he was doing a correct job. Neji had been the unlucky one handpicked by the Rokudaime.
It was two weeks into the mission and they had gather most of the particularly sensitive relevant information, the classification of the mission could be dropped down to S-class and an experienced Jounin could take over. They were soon to be relieved of this post in the now prosperous Wave country and back on their way to Konoha.
"You didn't have a problem before, you were fine the past two weeks." Naruto said in a low tone, remarking on the days Neji had spent amused watching Naruto run through the city with his enthusiasm. "Didn't want to be here because I forced you, or don't want to here like this," Naruto pushed his supple female form closer, "now, since Hinata might be on her way?"
Neji stiffened and stopped struggling in the hold. They had been given a list of the expected members of the group sent to escort the Rokudaime back to Konoha and there was a possibility that Hyuuga Hinata would be present.
There was a silence and Naruto whispered, "She might not be looking forward to seeing you." She might not come, was unsaid.
Neji did not reply and they walked companionably down the street.
"Neji." The Hokage said when they walked through an empty area. "Why haven't you stopped? Your place in society has been established."
Neji was silent and after moments of frustration, Naruto paused, looked right then left, and pulled the Hyuuga male into a deserted alleyway.
"You have to stop it. I don't see this path going anywhere." the blonde said smoke surrounding him as he released the gender changing jutsu. "She deserves better than that. Damn it, you deserve better than that. You're not such a horrible man, Neji."
"Apparently, I am." The Council Advisor whispered eyes looking into the distance.
Naruto gave a half-strangled scream and opened his mouth but closed it as they felt the energy signatures of the escorts moving in. The Hokage pinched his lips together in a fine line.
"This is not over." He said to his Advisor.
The Hyuuga prodigy tilted his head in acknowledgement as the guards dropped in on formation.