Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Rosemary For Remembrance ❯ Marigolds ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Rating: PG for this chapter; eventually up to NC-17

Chapter 7 - Marigolds
 
A little more than kin, and less than kind. - Shakespeare, Hamlet
 
The rain had evened out to a steady drizzle that promised to turn icy after the sun set. The four of them, Neji, Hinata, Naruto and Sakura did not speak much on the way home, though Naruto and Hinata stayed close, sometimes sharing small touches or private looks.
 
The plan was to return to Konoha and break the news to Hiashi immediately after the wedding. Neji heard Hinata wish aloud that she could move her things to Naruto's tiny apartment right away.
 
He also noted how Hinata extricated her hand from Naruto's shortly before they approached Konoha's gates.
 
“It's best not to provoke my father,” she said. There was a note of pleading in her voice. Naruto had never been known for his restraint, of course.
 
Sakura cut in before Naruto could answer.
 
“I don't think seeing you holding Naruto's hand will provoke him any more than the fact you've married him.”
 
Hinata turned her head and looked down. It was an old gesture, one she did not use nearly as much. She had done it during their fight in their first Chuunin exam. It meant she was embarrassed. Sakura seemed to pick up on Hinata's discomfort.
 
“I just meant that… maybe seeing you two so happy together would soften the blow.”
 
Konoha's gates appeared and Neji ended the conversation with an abrupt, “I think not.”
 
()()()()()
 
They met their first opposition at the Hyuga gates. Neji immediately picked up on the patrol's guarded expressions. Their cousin Tetsuo took a long, nervous drag on his forbidden cigarette at their approach. Normally, the sentries would stand aside and allow Neji and Hinata's entrance. Today, both guards kept up their positions in front of the closed gates.
 
Hiashi knew.
 
A tense second passed as the two groups regarded one another. Naruto broke the silence.
 
“We are here to see Hyuga-sama.” Even he sounded strained.
 
Tetsuo's eyes flickered regretfully to Neji as he replied.
 
“We have been given instructions that Hinata-sama and Neji-san are to report to Hyuga-sama at once. All other visitors are to be turned away today.”
 
The changes in Naruto were nearly imperceptible if one tried to pinpoint them individually. His fingers flexed minutely, his breathing quickened slightly, his eyes narrowed, he rolled onto the balls of his feet. Suddenly, his stance transformed from relaxed to ready for anything. Both sentries sensed it.
 
“Hyuga-sama does not allow trouble here,” the other sentry - a middle-aged aunt Neji had never known well - interjected. An experienced shinobi, she focused her attention on Naruto, but never stopped checking her periphery. “Hinata-sama and Neji-san are to report at once,” she repeated. It was the monotone voice of a Hyuga Branch House member, but there might have been something in her tone that was almost apologetic.
 
Naruto started to argue, but was silenced by Hinata's hand, small and pale against his forearm.
 
“Wait here,” she told him softly.
 
“Hinata!”
 
“I'll be fine, Naruto-kun.”
 
“You don't know that.” Naruto's voice was a husky growl, intimate. He gripped Hinata by the arms, pulled he close to him. Neji felt like an intruder in their conversation and he noticed Sakura studiously pretending to observe some river birds preen on the bridge railings.
 
Hinata remained patient, once again extricating herself from Naruto's grip. She smiled slightly at his scowling face, brushed a knuckle across his cheek. The action seemed to deflate him. He suddenly appeared very tired.
 
“I am Hyuga. For one more day at least. Let me do this the Hyuga way. One last time. Please.”
 
Naruto exhaled loudly and they all knew Hinata had won. Naruto bent down and kissed her then, and Neji was finally able to turn completely away.
 
Tetsuo stepped aside and opened one of the gates.
 
Even when the heavy gates closed behind them, Naruto's voice carried. Rage tinged with a hint of hysteria.
 
“But if he hurts you, Hinata, I'll kill him.”
 
()()()()()
 
They were lead into Hiashi's office, where, this time, it was Hiashi and Hanabi behind the desk. Neji reflected on the fact that he was the only one in the room who had never stood behind that desk to pass judgment and never would.
 
There was something different about Hanabi. He observed her out of the corner of his eyes until he realized what it was. The fringe of bangs she always wore over her forehead had been brushed aside, revealing the smoothness there. She had tried to catch his eye, but he pretended not to notice her. Then he saw her run her pointed tongue over her top teeth when she thought no one was looking. So both Hyuga sisters had realized their fondest wishes today.
 
Hiashi regarded them both severely. First Hinata, then him. The silence in the office grew and stretched into a living thing.
 
“I would never have expected you, Hinata, to make such a rash decision.” Hiashi used the same flat calm voice to order tea, to order executions.
 
Since it was not a question, Hinata didn't answer. Her fists were not clenched at her sides like Neji's itched to do. In fact, she appeared perfectly serene. Resigned.
 
“Of course you will be renounced as the heir to Hyuga,” Hiashi went on. “The precedent was set for this almost eight hundred years ago when Hyuga Haru eloped with a kitchen servant.”
 
Hanabi's eyes flickered to Hiashi then narrowed imperceptibly.
 
“Any issue of the marriage,” Hiashi continued, “Will be fostered among the Hyuga if they carry the Byakugan. Undoubtedly this will not be a problem as low-blood generally taints the gene that carries our ancestral ability.” He said this as if reading the back of a medicine bottle.
 
Neji watched for Hinata to get angry, to defend Naruto, but she remained silent and serene. He could not imagine standing by while the head of Hyuga threatened to take his child away, dismissed his spouse with a casual insult.
 
But this, he realized, this was the difference between them.
 
()()()()()
 
Her mother had run her fingers through the trickle of water from the sink. Her hand had still been wet when she knelt down and took Hinata by the shoulders.
 
Water has no color.
 
()()()()()
 
“There is one more thing.” Hiashi had continued on when Hinata did not answer him. “Hinata, right now you are a danger to yourself and this clan.” He held out a hand as if to take hers, but quickly turned it into a gesture of beckoning toward the door. “Come, and I will administer the mark.”
 
Hinata actually took a step forward. Neji was so stunned that he almost let her take a second before he reached out to grab her arm. He did not know what he was thinking. Maybe that, though they couldn't take all of the Hyuga guards, between the two of them they could at least escape into the village.
 
He thought he managed to brush a fingertip against Hinata's wrist before a searing pain stayed his hand.
 
()()()()()
 
Her fingers frozen in seal of the cursed jutsu, Hanabi ran her pointed tongue over the edges of her teeth again.
 
Hinata lapsed from her resignation for the first time that night. She cried out, then reached for Neji who now lay writhing on the floor. Flecks of foam gathered at the corner of his mouth and his face was contorted into an expression of absolute pain.
 
Hiashi grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her away. “He will hurt you.”
 
He held his oldest daughter tightly until Neji's convulsions stilled. It was the first time he had touched her in years.
 
Still behind the desk, Hanabi's chest heaved. The only sound in the room was her breathless panting.
 
“He was reaching for her,” Hanabi suddenly declared. “I thought he would harm her.” Hinata and Hiashi regarded her over Neji's prone body. “I thought he was going to hurt my sister,” she repeated.
 
()()()()()
 
Hanabi lowered her hands slowly.
 
Hinata rushed to Neji's side, checking to see if he had bitten his tongue.
 
Hanabi stared steadily at Hiashi. Hiashi stared steadily at a point some twenty-five years in the past.
 
The Hyuga have always prided themselves on their powers of observation, but truly, as in any life, moments of clarity are as rare as shooting stars or blue moons or abiding and faithful love.
 
Despite having eyes that see everything, Hyuga often possess exceedingly peculiar blind spots.
 
Hiashi realized then that he would never be the man his brother was, but it wasn't too late to start trying.
 
The tinny clang of a bell summoned two Branch House patrolwomen. Both remained outwardly calm as they surveyed the scene, though Hiashi detected their nervousness through small gestures - the almost imperceptible tensing of muscles, the rapid movement of one guard's tongue inside her mouth.
 
Hinata made to follow as a still-unconscious Neji was loaded onto a stretcher, but her father stopped her by touching her hand again.
 
“They know how to see to him. You can go to him momentarily. Wait a moment.” A pause. “Please, Hinata.”
 
He wasn't sure if it was the “please” or the second touch that stopped her, though she watched until her unconscious cousin was out of sight.
 
Hanabi was still standing by the desk, one hand clutching the edge of the mahogany surface.
 
“I've changed my mind,” Hiashi said without preamble, so suddenly that both of his daughters' heads whipped around at the sound of his voice. “Hinata, I know that you will not willingly endanger your Clan or your village. I have decided to allow you to remain unmarked unless such a time comes that you think you might pose harm to those most important to you. I know you will make the right choice. In that…In that you are your mother's daughter.”
 
Hiashi watched Hinata bow deferentially in acceptance of his decision. No one acknowledged Hanabi's knuckles whitening where she gripped the desk.
 
()()()()()
 
Despite having eyes that see everything, Hyuga often possess exceedingly peculiar blind spots.
 
It was then that Hanabi realized for the first time that her best would never be quite good enough to make him love her more than the ones that came before.
 
The knowledge was like copper on her tongue.
 
()()()()()
 
Despite having eyes that see everything, Hyuga often possess exceedingly peculiar blind spots.
 
Neji remembered how Hanabi ran her tongue over the edges of her teeth when she looked at her sister and surprised himself that this - upon waking up from his first experience with the cursed jinjutsu - was the first time he realized that there are things aside from cages that can imprison a man.
 
Blinking slowly, Neji noticed an odd quality to the light and he realized that some thoughtful soul had placed a green shade on the window. Legend held that a green filter helped mitigate the migraine headaches that often occurred as a result of the cursed jinjutsu.
 
So when Hinata entered the room, the wash of green light and the blurriness of his vision made it seem like he was looking at her through sea glass.
 
Twenty-five years of instinct screamed for him to stand up when the Heir entered the room, but his legs refused to cooperate. She walked toward him slowly and it was like she was swimming.
 
There on the edge of the bed, clutching the edge of the mattress to stop the spinning in his head, Neji sat as still and silent as if the eighth bird had just landed on his outstretched finger. Her pale hands came up and encircled his neck. With no hesitation, she untied the knot on the band that held his hair away from his eyes, removed it and sat it on the bed behind them as gently as if it were made of glass. Neji couldn't have felt more exposed if he had been naked in front of her and he had to stifle the impulse to grab her wrist when she reached for him again. Instead, he remained motionless as she ran the pad of her thumb over the jinjutsu. He watched the near imperceptible movement of her wrist as she used the tip of one finger to trace each fork of the hated symbol.
 
If it hadn't been branded into his forehead before, it was now.
 
()()()()()
 
Despite having eyes that see everything, Hyuga often possess exceedingly peculiar blind spots.
 
Her cousin looked up at her in an unguarded moment and there it was, written in silver in his eyes.
 
Hinata realized then, for the first time, that when one looks through Hyuga eyes, one sees absolutely nothing.
 
TBC…