Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Rosemary For Remembrance ❯ Acacia ( Chapter 3 )

Title: Rosemary For Remembrance

Author: Sintari

Summary: Hyuga is a house with many rooms. A Neji & Hinata-centric fic. Expect madness, love, sex, and murder.

Rating: Gfor this chapter; eventually up to NC-17

Genre: Het. Drama/Angst. Yaoi will be mentioned. Various pairings t.b.a.

Spoilers: Up to Manga 238

Archive: Scimitar Smile, FF.net

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

 

A/N: Be sure to heed the spoilers. I'm ignoring the new arc of the manga, just so you guys know!

 

 

Chapter 3 - Acacia

 

I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.

 

- Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

 

What started out as simple consideration, ended up a matter of pride. He supposed he should be thankful that at least Hanabi had been left outside. Hiashi had pointedly shut the door before she could follow the three of them into the office. Now the older man sat at his desk with Hinata standing uncomfortably beside him. When they had entered, Hinata had moved to stand in front of the desk, as if to be reprimanded, causing her father to bark her name and gesture sharply. Neji had quickly averted his eyes from her subsequent blush and hesitant, “I'm s-sorry.”

 

Neji stood across the big desk from them and bowed respectfully.

 

“You wanted to see me, Hiashi-sama.” This statement was more a formality than anything. They all knew what this was about.

 

“It has been brought to our attention that you were involved in an altercation with two of Konoha's Genin.” Hiashi's words were terse, his eyes fixed on Neji. Hinata focused all of her attention on an unremarkable spot on the tatami.

 

Neji nodded.

 

“Explain yourself.”

 

Now was the time to carefully choose his words.

 

“I considered the gate guards' topic of conversation offensive,” he said stiffly.

 

“So offensive that you had to deal with it yourself instead of reporting it to your superiors?”

 

“Which superior? You or the Hokage?” he had wanted to ask.

 

Instead, Neji just returned his uncle's cold stare. “Yes, sir.”

 

“And what exactly was it that you found so offensive that you felt you had to ignore my orders, break the shinobi protocol of this village, and send two of its Genin to the hospital when there is a war on?”

 

“I do not feel that what was said is relevant, sir.”

 

He felt Hinata's eyes on him and glanced at her. Her body language was easy enough to read. She was pleading with him to say more, to cooperate.

 

Hiashi's gaze was piercing. “I didn't ask you what you feel, Neji. I asked what was said.”

 

 

“I would rather not say. I've admitted to disobeying orders and I am ready to accept my punishment.”

 

He wished Hinata would stop looking at him like that.

 

Hiashi surprised him then by turning to his daughter. “What would you do if you were in my situation, Hinata? One of your Branch House subordinates is withholding information from you, the head of the clan. For all both of you know, this information could prove vital.”

 

Hinata's gaze darted back and forth between them. It bothered him, just a little, that he was part of the reason she was so nervous. He studied a house plant across the room, so that there would only be one set of stern white eyes on her.

 

So he was surprised when he heard her speak up.

 

“I-I trust Neji,” she said. “He is called the genius of the Hyuga Clan for a reason and if he is going to be my councilor, I will have to trust him. Besides, he was not lying when he said he believed what was said is not relevant. And by the way he clasped his hands behind his back and his eyes moved up and to the left when you asked him what was said, I can see that he was recalling the incident and becoming angry about it.” She seemed to gain confidence as she continued. Neji was certain this was the longest speech he had ever heard her give her father.

 

“All of these factors, combined with Neji's understandable fear of the cursed seal,” he stiffened, but she was pointedly not looking at him, “leads me to conclude that his altercation with the two Genin resulted from a personal conflict. In other words, if I were the clan head, I would decide that this is none of my business.”

 

“Very good.” Hiashi leaned back in his chair. “When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.” He took both of them in with a sweeping glance and they both nodded deferentially.

 

“I have decided that your one week reassignment from the ANBU squad to guard duty is a sufficient punishment. I will not add to it. But I do suggest using those long hours guarding Konoha's gate to reflect on the consequences of letting your personal life interfere in another mission for your Clan.” His pointed gaze left Neji with no doubts about what those consequences would entail.

 

“Sir.”

 

“Good afternoon, then.” Hiashi nodded dismissively.

 

The courtyard was bright after the gloom of the office, and the first thing he noticed was Hanabi practicing her taijutsu in the courtyard. He noted that though she seemed to be in the middle of one of her forms, it was an uncommonly warm day for spring, and she had yet to break into a sweat. Of course, there was nothing he could say to the Hyuga Second Daughter about spying.

 

Hinata followed him out of the office. He listened to her soft footfalls on the wooden walkway.

 

“Neji-niisan, you're bleeding through your bandages.”

 

He raised his hands to confirm the dark red blotches on the cloth around his knuckles.

 

“Thank you, Hinata-sama.” For some reason, he hid his hand behind his back, out of her sight.

 

“I could-” she began and stopped. He had stopped walking and turned to her. A Branch House member never turned away from a Main House member while they were being addressed.

 

“If you want, that is, I could give you one of my salves for it. And dress the wounds again.”

 

“As you wish, Hinata-sama.”

 

“Only if you wish. It's not a command.”

 

He probably surprised them both when he nodded. Hinata smiled at him then. It was the same smile she had given Aburame Shino before standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, and the memory made Neji's bleeding knuckles twinge. He almost made an excuse and retreated to his own rooms, but she had already turned around and was leading him toward her garden. When she stopped and waited for him to catch up and walk beside her, he did.

 

He had never been inside Hinata's garden shed before. Of course he had noticed the additions to it when she took it over - a new coat of paint, a different wreath of flowers on the door in every season. And then there were the people coming and going. When Hinata was home there was usually a steady stream of visitors. Like all of the Hyuga, he was aware that their heir dabbled in homeopathic remedies. Unlike the rest of them, he had never knocked on her door. This was partially because he was rarely sick or hurt, and partially because he never knew what to say when he found himself alone with her.

 

He followed her inside and had to duck immediately to avoid a row of dried plants that hung from the rafters. She must have seen his shadow lurch because she turned around.

 

“Sorry. I'm a bit behind. I've been away on missions and, well, you see.” She gestured vaguely around the room and he noted a similar line of drying herbs hanging from every inch of spare rafter space. The whole experience smelled rather like walking into a closet full of potpourri, strong but not unpleasant. The shed was markedly longer than it was wide, and an oven and two large metal vats dominated its far end. A half-sized refrigerator rounded out what he quickly identified as her work area. As for the rest, the portions of wall that weren't lined with brimming shelves were dotted with hooks holding an assortment of gardening implements. A crooked rectangular table, once painted green, was pushed against one wall. One leg was shorter than the others and when he sat in one of the two cane-backed chairs he observed Hinata lift its corner and kick what looked like a discarded bathroom tile underneath the leg before laying out two china cups and saucers.

 

“Would you like some tea?” Hinata asked from the stove.

 

He told himself that it couldn't hurt, since she seemed to be making some for herself anyway.

 

Neji sat and watched her work. She washed her hands with a strong smelling soap and then removed two leather pouches from a shelf. He saw her tap out several spoonfuls of dried leaves and place them in the tea strainer. She deftly dodged the jutting shelves and several potted plants that sat on the floor, and soon the kettle was heating on the stove. He found it difficult to reconcile this girl with Hinata the mediocre kunoichi who ghosted around the Hyuga Compound.

 

On his second sweep of the room - an ingrained habit - he spied a bedroll tucked inconspicuously behind one of the shelves. He was deliberately looking in the opposite direction by the time she approached him with the kettle.

 

When they both had tea, she patted the table, and he showed her his hand, belatedly realizing that while he was watching her work he could have been removing the bandages. He started to loosen them with his left hand, but she stopped him with a soft, “Let me.”

 

Her hands were sure and methodical, and she gave a low gasp when his knuckles were finally uncovered. Viewed through her eyes, the wound seemed much worse than when he had absent-mindedly wrapped them earlier that morning.

 

“I don't suppose you see many split knuckles around here.”

 

She looked up at him when he spoke.

 

“No,” she said seriously. “You're my first case. Our style isn't very conducive to bloody knuckles, is it?” She was already examining the wounds. “I wish you had come to me right away, I might not be able to stop these from scarring.”

 

“It doesn't matter,” he muttered.

 

“But I'll try anyway.” She had retrieved a small ceramic pot from her refrigerator and set it on the table between them, along with a few cotton swabs. “This will probably sting.”

 

It did. Only pride kept him from curling his fingers in counterpoint to the pain.

 

But the stinging of the ointment was soon forgotten. When Hinata went to wrap his wounds again, she took his hand in hers. Their palms touched. Neji realized that, outside of battle, this was the first time someone had touched his skin in years.

 

He wished again that she would stop looking at him like that.

 

“Drink your tea,” she reminded. He was glad to have an excuse to do something, to take his eyes off the sight of her carefully winding the new bandages around his hand.

 

“I don't think we're meant to take our aggression out in battle,” she said suddenly.

 

“A shinobi should have a clear head in battle,” he affirmed flatly.

 

“I didn't mean shinobi, I meant us. Hyuga. I've thought about it quite a bit. I think our ancestors must have valued self-control more than anything.”

 

They both stared down at his freshly wrapped knuckles.

 

“I sometimes wonder if we are wise to specialize in a taijutsu technique that has been stylized over thousands of years.” She said this rather hollowly, and he did not dare look at her.

 

“Some would say that practice has perfected the Jyuken,” he countered.

 

She drew her tea mug in closer to her chest and he knew he had made her nervous again.

 

“Maybe,” she said vaguely.

 

His hitai-ate suddenly chafed.

 

“I'm sorry, Hinata-sama.”

 

She did not acknowledge the apology.

 

“I wish you wouldn't call me that.” She must have noticed his closed expression. “I mean, I know that's usually impossible. But maybe when we're alone you could just call me Hinata?”

 

Neji was very aware of the way her hair fell into her face when she looked down at the table, of how one corner of her lip curved into a tentative half smile when she was nervous.

 

“I'll try to remember,” he finally said.

 

They both knew he would remember. They also both knew he would pretend to forget.

 

()()()()()

 

From her window, Hanabi watched the door to Hinata's garden shed open and Neji step out. She saw Hinata follow him, saw her say something, saw her smile and finally saw her close the door.

 

She saw Neji reach one bandaged hand out and touch one of the flowers that made up the wreath on Hinata's door. She saw him pause just a second too long, staring at the dried purple flower petal that had come off in his palm.

 

Her father was still sitting at his desk when she found him. Hanabi was one of the few people with the nerve to call on him unannounced. He never even looked up when she burst through the door.

 

“Yes, Hanabi?” His eyes continued moving rapidly over a long scroll.

 

Hanabi hurried to stand in front of her father's desk, bowing low.

 

“I have seen something I think you should know about,” she said rapidly, her face slightly flushed from running in the heat.

 

Hiashi did give her his full attention then. The happiest moment of her life had been the first time her father had looked at her with respect in his eyes. She strove every day to see that look again.

 

“Hinata and Neji-niisan just spent almost an hour together in her garden shed. I am afraid she is trying to undermine you, Otousan.”

 

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

 

She rushed on. “She's trying to undermine your authority with the Branch Family. I see it from my window - they come to her whenever she is home. They leave with her teas and her salves. When you forbade her to charge for her services, it just made her seem more benevolent to them. She'll gain their loyalty with our mother's plants!”

 

Her father's answer had her shivering despite the cold day.

 

“Hinata is their heir, Second Daughter.”

 

He seemed to be waiting for her reply but she could not form words. Her feet felt glued to the tatami.

 

“Do you not think it wise for her to gain their trust?”

 

“I-I do,” she agreed faintly.

 

Her bangs fell into her eyes when she looked down at her feet, but she dared not brush them off her forehead for fear of calling attention to what was not there.

 

She ended her brief visit with the only thing she could say.

 

“I would never try to undermine you, Otousan. Never.”

 

()()()()()

 

That summer brought a lull in tensions with the Sound Village. And on a Wednesday in May, Neji and Hinata both found themselves at home. He had been given time off after a particularly grueling ANBU mission and she had been replaced on her team by another medical nin in order to tend to Clan business. It had been rumored that the series of ceremonies were to mark the occasion of Hanabi's sealing and subsequent pledge to defend the Main Family, but the Hyuga Second Daughter returned to the Academy in the fall with a defiantly bare forehead.

 

As was often the case when she was home, Hinata was gardening. The day Uzumaki Naruto returned to Konoha, she had help.

 

“He takes his duty seriously,” one old uncle had remarked approvingly upon passing by Neji as he shouldered a basket full of weeds and carried it to Hinata's compost heap.

 

“The children are growing up,” agreed the elderly aunt who clung to his arm. “Seems like only yesterday Neji-kun and Hinata-sama were knee high to a grasshopper.”

 

Unable to block out the old woman's loud voice, Neji and Hinata made eye contact and shared a shy grin.

 

“I swear when we saw him this morning I could have thought that Uzumaki boy was our Yondaime. I don't know what to think about…” her voice trailed off as the two got farther away.

 

Neji heard Hinata drop her spade.

 

It felt like déjà vu when he suggested, “You should go and see him.”

 

“I-I wouldn't know what to say.”

 

Her whole body went taut with nervousness. The way she wrapped her arms around herself, the way she brushed her hair behind her ear told him everything he needed to know. Now that Naruto was back it was like he had never left.

 

He suddenly couldn't stand to look at her.

 

“I'll clean up here,” he said stiffly. “Go see him.”

 

She hadn't looked back as she left him there in her garden. Of course, he hadn't expected her to.

 

Not really.

 

TBC

 

Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed! I'm still getting a lot of responses (for me) and I'm still overwhelmed!

 

Random Person: Thanks again for calling me on some things. Yet again, I can't answer too many of your questions because you are very perceptively hitting on some upcoming plot points. Just know that I like to write from a deep 3rd person personal perspective and basically, I don't think Neji would in touch with his own emotions. At least at first. But! To me, he is a character that - when he decides on something, he goes all out. Thanks again for the detailed and thoughtful review! Tear me up this chapter! ^___^