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runespoorOversights and Celebrations dvd commentary continued from here and here.
This part's official title should be, 'I fail at NC-17, really, I do.' (It's also known at 'The Sex Scene at the Hospital'.) The idea to add an 'aftermath' scene came when I wanted to make the fic clearly NejiHina. I thought it would be amusing to contrast Hinata's behavior with her friends (who don't know that NejiHina's relationship is sexual) and her behavior in the context of NejiHina.
Sneaking into the hospital was easy.
In the aftermath of the war, the medic-nins were still working themselves into the ground, and the security had relaxed enough that a shinobi could slip past the half-asleep genin receptionist without being stopped.
Can't remember why I decided to make the receptionist a ninja (I think I just went with fanon that hospital = shinobi hospital), but I remember why I made him/her a genin instead of a chuunin; I thought that Kabuto, though a genin, didn't downplay his abilities as a medic-nin (or did he? In my interpretation of canon he doesn't), so genin can decide to specialize as medic-nins; besides I suppose after a war, even if the normal rank for a receptionist is chuunin, with the many dead, they'd put a genin there so they'd be able to free a chuunin for other duties.
Retrospectively, I'm very happy about having written this, because in The Return (Part III), I go over the hospital system in Konoha, and the affluence of civilian adults joining up the Academy to become ninja; in my mind, I've decided that the genin receptionist here is one of these adult-civilian-turned-ninja.
It was one of those odd times when it was tacitly admitted that things like visiting hours and common rules needn't apply. Not for a few weeks after the end of a war – and rarely, if ever, when one's teammate or close family was gravely wounded.
I don't remember how these rules came to me while I was writing, but it seemed to make sense. In fanon, it seems like no-one ever respects visiting hours (Hinata sneaks in to see Naruto, Kakashi drops t any hour to annoy people, Naruto rolls over any argument against his presence…) so I decided to make it one of those things everyone knows happens.
Besides, it gives medic-nins one thing less to concern themselves about, which I'm all for – c'mon, they already have to heal people and make sure the patients don't get up from the bed to start training again and/or flee the hospital, both of which are canon, so anything that'd make them less exhausted is good in my book. :)
Not that anybody would stop a clan head from seeing a member of their clan. Even the Hokage would have some trouble justifying that to the elders and the other clans. The only instance Hinata could recall dated back from the Nidaime's days, when the Sarutobi clan head's attempted coup had misfired due to the intervention of the kid who'd later become Sandaime.
The reports had been unclear whether the Nidaime had been more outraged by the betrayal of one of the clans, the harm done to his student, or the heartlessness of a clan head willingly setting up one of her own. In any case the incident had proved that the man had every right of being Hokage in his own right, not just because he was Shodai's brother and one of the founders of the village. It was generally agreed that Nidaime had been the most ruthless Hokage thus far.
Backstory love. <3 (I'm a history nerd.) On Nidaime being the most ruthless Hokage; well, I think Tsunade might give him a run for his money, but when you look at Sandaime's flashbacks with Shodai and Nidaime, Shodai looks all nice and smiling whereas Nidaime looks stricter and sterner. (I LIKE MY FANON.)
The incident? Well, it just came up; I wanted one exception to the rule (I always do, I like hints that things are never as simple as they look, esp. where history is concerned). Come on, there's bound to have been at least one attempted coup in Konoha's history (in case this sentence doesn't make it completely clear, I'm not an American – unless I'm wrong, there have never been attempted coups in the US' history, right?)
Watch how I don't address the issue of the Shodai/Nidaime hinted confrontations. I never knew what to make of it.
The incident also serves to show that Hinata's rather knowledgeable about the history of the village, which I think makes sense for her character, as Hyuuga heir/Hyuuga head, especially one who doesn't agree with many of its traditions. I don't believe in tabula rasa; I don't believe in changing history or making the future better if you don't know what happened in the past. I don't even believe that you can understand the world as it is if you don't know the past. (Plz to be stopping considering history as 'irrelevant' and 'outdated' because then you'll start saying that the Shoah, for instance, was 'a detail' or 'faked', or start mixing 'Nazi' and 'German'.)
When I write a character who doesn't fit in with traditions etc and I want to show them as competent, I always make them know history. (cf my Andromeda Black in the Harry Potter fandom.)
Her father had visited her when she'd failed the prelims of the third test – once, Hanabi in tow.
'Only' once, Hanabi in tow.
Hinata hadn't been able to discern whether the man standing in her hospital room was her father or the head of the clan, but Hanabi had come again, uneasy and blushing, the first time empty-handed, then always bringing a flower, or a book, and detailed accounts of how the garden was. It was thoughtful of her; and Hinata knew which questions to ask to have an update on the clan itself without upsetting her little sister.
Hanabi deserves more love. I must say I hate fics where she's depicted as envious of Hinata or hating her sister. Maybe that makes me idealistic, but I don't think it'd be likely to happen quite like that in RL. (Psychology of the characters > OMG FANTASY/NINJAS/ROMANCE I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT) I'm more interested in Hanabi when she's conflicted; little girl/ninja, younger sister/possible heir, and I like her best when her softer side is played up and she's awkward and grumpy and fierce-and-a-little-lost.
Hanabi doesn't tell anything about the people in the clan because she's afraid of upsetting Hinata (she thinks Hinata a lot more fragile than Hinata actually is) and Hinata doesn't want to upset Hanabi's view on things by confronting her directly because Hinata never sees the use of distressing someone she loves needlessly.
Her father had also visited Neji after his fight against Naruto, which Hinata had known to be both from an uncle and from the Hyuuga head.
I like it when Hiashi's conflicting roles are broached upon, too. That doesn't mean I have to excuse him. He's stuck in a difficult situation with his brother/nephew/daughters, but he's still a bastard, and an incompetent, which is almost worse. :)
Hinata is aware of what happens in her clan. I think her situation in it was so on the verge of crashing down and burning that she had to develop an acute sense of perception of what went on around her. cf her fight against Neji and telling him plainly that he had suffered more than she.
So had done Hinata after the disastrous mission against the Sound Five.
She came to a stop before her cousin's room. The lights were switched off, which revealed nothing except that Neji was alone.
:) For once the lack of transition, I think, works, because after that mission was when Hinata first had sex and I thought cutting her thoughts off at the moment was good; in a way, it carries more weight.
Writing that Neji was blind, even if it's not his PoV, but keeping it at all times in Hinata's mind, was more difficult than I could have imagined, maybe because it was also my first time writing them together out of my first (UNPOSTED THANK GOD) Naruto fic, which was horribly horribly OOC but in my defense I hadn't read past Sasuke-in-a-bucket at the time.
Slightly smiling, Hinata opened the door. She chose not to insult him by intentionally making noise; he was blind, not dead. She, of all people, would never be able to slip unnoticed by him. That was what he'd been raised for.
I like 'That was what he'd been raised for', but only because I think it's a very cruel sentence about the Hyuuga clan. Incidentally, Hinata doesn't like it, and the reason she's smiling is only because she's going to see him squee.
I had Hinata chose not to make any noise because I pondered the possibility for a while; I made my justification against it Hinata's.
He was propped up against his pillows, head turned towards the door; he must've been expecting her. He might even have been aware of her presence since she'd entered the building – he was that attuned to her chakra. It was both flattering and disquieting.
Hinata felt her body tense up, the way it always did when Neji's blank eyes rested on her. The reaction was even stronger now than when Neji could see her. It was unacceptable of Hyuuga-sama to be affected so violently by one of her advisers, even one as valuable and as dear to her as her cousin, and this was actually one of the reasons why Neji was staying at the hospital. The Hyuuga weren't quite so blind that they'd fail to pick on it.
Again, IC justification of why Neji's there. Actually, there's also the fact that it's easier for Hinata to circumvent the Hyuuga council's influence when Neji is out of their area of authority and in the village hospital, but she's thinking of the Hyuuga noticing her Special Relationship with Neji because that would make things even more complicated (at least that's my excuse).
I needed an excuse why Neji, though apparently entirely healed except for his eyes which can't be healed, is still at the hospital when I imagine everyone would be quite in the hurry to push him out of it, so they'd have more room for other injured.
Side note: apparently the Hyuuga pays for single rooms for members of the clan. Or Hinata called in a favor from Ibiki/the Hokage. Or the Hokage knows that Neji is important to Hinata and doesn't want the Hyuuga to fuck a working situation up. You see, there are many perfectly reasonable (XD) excuses why Neji has a private room. Besides 'I want them to have sex and not worry about waking the other person up'.
She tried to groom herself back into control, telling herself that a disabled Neji was no reason for getting worked up, and certainly not in this fashion. She took a few shallow breaths to cool down, refusing to let the tingle run its course, and knowing by Neji's smirk that he knew exactly what impact he had on her, knowing by the tilt of his head, which made his hair fall on the side like a curtain, that he was equally receptive.
This paragraph is so representative of the way I write their relationship. And by that I mean how hyperaware they are and how likely to jump one another they are when they're even half-alone. (SHUT UP I SAY IF NEJI HADN'T PULLED UP HINATA'S SLEEVE DURING THEIR MATCH I WOULD NOT HAVE MADE THEIR RELATIONSHIP THAT CONSTANTLY SEXUAL. I think.)
"Hinata-sama," he greeted her with a murmur. "I trust you had a good evening?"
His tone was mocking and caressing. With a faint smile, Hinata walked over to the bed and sat down on the mattress. Usually she'd have reveled in the sensation of illicit belonging that accompanied her gestures, but tonight her friends' curiosity was fresh in her mind, and Neji's formal address didn't help the matter, even though she knew it was part Neji's smug brand of subservience, part his idea of public displays of affection, all the more pleasurable since no-one could suspect what he put behind it.
'smug brand of subservience'. There may be hints of D/s in the way I write NejiHina (er. Are they? I don't know, because I very much don't know anything about it) but if there are they are wholly unintended; I didn't theorize the way I see NejiHina before starting to write, all I know is that this is the way I see them, and my vision involves them shifting in and out and around of any 'role'. Mostly, they're rarely 100% straight-forward about what they're doing; for instance Neji's smugness here, or Hinata's indulging Neji later. (Topping from the bottom and/or girl on top: should get written moar.)
After all, he'd been the first one – and for almost all her life, the only one – to refer to her that way, even when it had seemed that she was destined to join the Branch House sooner or later and leave the leadership of the clan to Hanabi.
Why yes, this is one of my fanon interpretations of canon for shipping NejiHina.
Public displays of affection were not a good idea if they needed to talk. Which they most definitely needed to.
"We missed you," she told him, trying to find a way to break the news to him without sending him into shock and failing. "We've celebrated."
The corners of Neji's lips minutely curved. "Did you smuggle some beer for me?"
I wanted to write this because it's so normal. (Again with the beer.)
She had. Her stillness must have betrayed her, or else Neji had felt her cheeks were ablaze, because his lips stretched into a slow, pleased smile. Hinata's breath caught.
This, less so, but she's slightly embarrassed that he can see so well through her.
A word on the adjective 'pleased': when I use it, it denotes that the character for whom it's used is the one 'in charge' (ex: Orochimaru would look pleased if Sasuke learnt a new jutsu, Sakura would look pleased if Naruto didn't jump on Sasuke with a furious yell to try and bash his skull in at the slightest provocation) – it means that something went the way it should and the character is letting others know about their satisfaction. (and yes, it has often sexual connotations – possibility of a reward –as far as I'm concerned.) It's not really an adjective I'd use to describe something that isn't slightly dysfunctional.
"Why, Hinata-sama…"
She had to fight for composure at his quasi-purr. It was no wonder that after that she couldn't keep a mask on around him. As it was, she couldn't keep her mouth from opening slightly.
His hand trailed down her cheek; his thumb brushed against her lower lip. Suddenly Hinata realized that her fingers had entangled themselves in the back of his hair. Her body shifted forward.
Oh look, the foreplay just became physical.
'Suddenly Hinata realized…' -> I'm lazy and couldn't think of a smooth way to get her put her hands in his hair.
Neji's eyes were blank – not Hyuuga-like blank, but the blankness of absolute nothingness. Hinata knew it was part of her role to make it up to him, because he was her protective shadow, he was the one member of the Hyuuga who belonged to her – neither to the Main House nor to the village – and as such he was hers to take care of. He wasn't merely her responsibility the way the clan was, he was hers.
I mean, if you hadn't got that I have a fixation on possessiveness and the peculiar dynamics between Neji and Hinata.
I often like playing with the idea of 'responsibility' in fics, because it twists the RL concept (responsible can be the responsibility of a parent over a child; or the 'responsibility' of a XIXth century European nation to 'civilize' and 'care for' the good savages in Africa; or the responsibility a master has on a slave, or – XIXth century again – a man on his wife).
Neji would wholly disagree and say that indeed, he is hers, but that makes him have duties toward her, and absolutely nothing of the reverse.
He couldn't see her; she blew warm breath against his skin, and his lips opened like he wanted to drink the air.
My air-and-water Hyuuga metaphor. I'm not sure I could have made it even less subtle that he's drinking in her presence unless I made it completely blatant.
The first time he'd done that, he'd already been in the hospital, back from the mission (To Retrieve Sasuke, Act One) which had almost killed him, and Hinata had kissed him on impulse, without really knowing why – he was pale and drawn, and he'd looked at her with confused hatred, as if he didn't understand what he felt now that Naruto had snatched his resentment away. He'd looked like he needed comfort, and like he needed to stop thinking.
Hinata takes the initiative for several reasons: 1)I like when the girl's taking the initiative (the 'girl waiting for the male to bestow his attentions upon her' concept needs to die, and I know I'm preaching to the choir yeah) 2)I like it even more when it's Hinata 3) Hinata was much more likely to do something than Neji, who is, unless I'm greatly misinterpreting my canon, a lot more passive than she is (by which I mean, consider her pro-active attitude, trying to change, to get stronger, talking to Naruto etc and Neji accepting things even if he hates them with a passion).
I'm aware that the 'on impulse' thing is a cliché, and so is the latent hurt/comfort, b-but. I liked it. ;_; It WORKED.
Both had worked.
Eyes snapping open, she tore her lips away from his, and he emitted a noise of protest. She needed to tell him now.
"Do you know–" her tongue flicked over Neji's lips "–what teen-aged shinobi talk about," her voice was a pant, "when they're celebrating with their friends?"
lol. Originally the two actions described referred to her breath, but that was simply too much (PORN STAR HINATA), so I changed the first. Btw, it's taken me a while, but I've realized my Hinata has something of an oral fixation.
Neji scowled at her. His cheeks were blotted pink, his hair was in complete disarray, and his thin, aristocratic lips looked as well-kissed as a girl with her lip-gloss smeared.
I didn't make this as sordid as I could have.
"No idea, Hinata-sama. I hope it's worth the interruption," he succinctly bit out.
This had to be one of the reasons why Hinata had guessed what was going on with Team Seven. She knew first-hand the workings of difficult icy ninja prodigies, and she knew better than anyone that they had as much of a sex drive as any other teenager. She also knew that it was worth putting up with every bit of their stony aloofness, though in Sasuke's case it was probably more "bitchiness" than anything else.
I can only see Hinata think the last part of that sentence and be IC if she's trying to be scrupulously fair.
"Yes, thank you for demonstrating," Hinata muttered, pausing in her nimble unbuttoning of Neji's hospital pajama.
Neji was silent for a moment, his thumb continuing to brush the skin of her throat under her ear, either lost in thought or enjoying the feel too much to give it up. Her head tilted to the side.
"Oh. Sex." He cocked an eyebrow, tone flat. The effect was somewhat lost by his shudder when Hinata's fingers trailed over his chest. "I understand that, Hinata-" he gasped as she licked her way down his throat "-sama, but what does it have to do with us?"
I want to say that I had immense fun writing this exchange. Because Neji being petulant over delays in sex and Hinata not stopping even if it's obvious it's not helping the conversation was so much laugh to write.
Something that attracts me in the NejiHina relationship is the way they view one another, and the way it's reflected (or not) in how they address one another. I'm always disappointed when I read a NejiHina fic and I see they're not calling one another '-sama' '-niisan' anymore; to me it's removing part of the difficulty in that pairing, but also part of what interests me in it.
Because, you know, if I wanted cute and remotely normal, I'd be shipping KibaHina (no offence KibaHina shippers, but those things have nothing to do with NejiHina. No really. It'd be like ItaSasu without Itachi killing the clan or Ron/Hermione without the UST).
So I had them say the other's names a few times in the fic, just so I could have the suffix, to let the reader know that that hadn't changed. (Getting Hinata to say Neji's name was more difficult, and I had to change it places a couple of times because I didn't want it to feel pasted on. And it was very important to me that Hinata call Neji Neji-niisan, yes it was, because my interpretation of canon told me that as the Hyuuga heir, she should never have called a Branch House member like that in the first place, so it's one of the first rules my Hinata broke, and I very much wanted to keep that.)
Not to mention that their way of addressing one another is also a way of addressing the incest issue.
Disclaimer: they're cousins and I don't think having sex with your cousin is incest and guess what, my country's laws agree with me and I am MIGHTILY annoyed when I read 'incest' in the warning section of NejiHina or, say, Andromeda/Regulus (tried to use the two most non-spoilery names, sry for the minor character abuse) in Harry Potter fandom. No, I mean for good.
Other disclaimer: I'm a lot more squicked by situational incest than by blood-incest. (with a few select exceptions *Elricest shipper*)
Have an example to get what I mean; a GaaTema fic where Temari discovers she's been adopted and so it's okay for her to have lusty feeling for Gaara = incest squick. A situation where two people meet, have lusty feelings, then sex, and realize later that they're long-lost siblings = doesn't squick me at all and makes me feel bad for them (aw not fair), and then want to say, 'hey just use protection or whatever!'
(and while we're on the subject of Sand-sibs incest: the one I can see best is KankuTema, then GaaKanku – the first b/c of their bonding over Gaara's being a freak pre-Naruto, the second b/c of the discussion between the two in flashback.)
I'll leave cross-generational incest out of it because it always squicks me, whether the participants know they're related or not (and by cross-generational I mean because of the age-difference; if the aunt and her nephew, who have a difference of all of 5 years between them, are getting it on, I probably won't be squicked).
So to sum it up: I might actually be tempted to play the 'omg she's calling him niisan!' angle up in NejiHina's case because their interactions in canon couldn't have made it clearer that they're not siblings (and I don't mean Neji trying to kill Hinata, I mean Neji calling her Hinata-sama. Oh, and his pulling up the sleeve – not siblings as in not treating one another like siblings). That's why the 'Hinata-sama' is there. And even if they were, I'd be shipping them all the same, because Hinata doesn't stand for rules. That's why the 'Neji-niisan' is there.
He sounded somewhat strangled. His hands were resting on her hips, as they had the first time she'd leaned, half-straddling half-crawling into his lap, to kiss him.
What I meant when I say Neji's more passive.
"I should think that'd be obvious," Hinata's words were a little muffled against the crook of Neji's neck, as she let go of the wet patch of skin for a moment. She fully intended to resume her task until she was sure he'd sport a full-blown hickey. Unexpectedly, her back arched as Neji's fingers lightly touched her skin, under the vest, and she moaned.
Her forehead against his shoulder, she laid boneless against her cousin as he unbuckled her pants, her body twitching and whimpering when his digits ran over the seam of her panties. Her arms were draped over his shoulders, and the sole reason why she didn't hear his heart beating was because she was listening to his breath.
She felt him kiss gently the top of her head.
As a rule, I loathe when that happens in a pairing, because to me it's such a non-sexual thing – indeed the sort of thing that would happen between siblings, or a child and a parent – and I say I loathe, I mean I go 'ew ew ew squickity squickity squiiiiiick' and is the reason I'm 'wibble' about Willow/Tara.
I did it here because at the same time, they're undressing one another. Talk about conflicted messages… :)
"I know that, but what do we have to do with everyone talking about sex?"
Hinata twisted to press her breasts against him. We. We. Us. Neji used those words whenever he could; Hinata didn't think she'd ever get tired of it, or of the barely-perceptible emphasis he put on it. To anyone else it'd be arrogance – the arrogance of the Hyuuga – but the same perverse relish flooded through her when he did, leaving her reeling, determined, and horny.
'Illicit' earlier, and now 'perverse'; you think Hinata's aware she's breaking yet more rules? There goes the Hinata-angsts-over-evil-feelings plot (device). Wave it goodbye if you'll miss it, 'cause you'll never see it in Celebrationverse.
Sarcasm aside, I like when Hinata takes comfort where she can without flagellating herself about having sex with her cousin; I think that as a ninja, she's aware she could do much worse. I think the 'missing-nin'/'enemy-nin'/outsider/(maybe even civilian) stigma would hold much higher to her than the incest thing, especially since he's only her cousin, and especially since there's a good chance that bloodlines such as the Byakugan are bred, and would imply a lot of consanguinity marriages.
(rough theory: less so in the branch house, where some member might marry an outside, produce kids who wouldn't have the Byakugan but carry the gene, and who would marry higher in the hierarchy of the clan, bringing in new blood and about ½ chances of having kids with the Byakugan.)
Sp why the 'illicit' and 'perverse', if consanguinity is okay in the Hyuuga? Partly maybe because their fathers were twins, so it might be closer to straight incest than the clan is willing to deal with; more surely because Neji = branch house member and Hinata = Hyuuga head and both = don't like traditions, so the idea of the two together, should it cross the mind of a council member, wouldn't make them comfortable at all. (See Neji's use, and Hinata's approval, of 'we'.)
Oh, no, she had to tell him first.
She really couldn't tell him that while she was rubbing against him like a bitch in heat, she decided. She broke the embrace and the cooler air of the room engulfed between them, making Neji shiver and his hands clutch harder on her waist. …Or could she?
She tried to recollect her thoughts. The way Neji's hands were snaking up to her breasts made this most difficult, particularly since his pinkies were teasing – ghost-like – her ribs, and Neji's hot breath was now much closer to her face.
Hinata whimpered.
A second later Neji had crashed into her with only a token squeak from the mattress, and he was half-lying atop of her, keeping her wrists pinned to the bed, one in each of his hands, which Hinata liked a lot more than being immobilized by only one hand.
The way I understood this as I wrote it, Neji totally took Hinata's whimper for a signal that it was play for him to go on and be more aggressive. (He is right.)
"So, what happened."
He had his patient voice of the adviser of the clan head, and Hinata regretted that her position made it impossible for her to spread her thighs. Then again, they had to talk first, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.
Why yes, she likes it when he's in control. Because it's such a good opportunity for her to make him lose said control, as demonstrated by the last two sentences.
The talk would only take a minute anyway.
Hinata didn't look in Neji's eyes, though he likely wouldn't realize one way or another – or maybe that was the reason why she didn't look at him. It seemed unfair that she'd get to watch his reaction if he couldn't watch hers. Even if she knew that he didn't need to. She closed her eyes to bask in the warmth of his body fitting against hers, his breath caressing her skin like breeze on water.
I'm trying to remind everyone involved (myself, Hinata, the reader) that Neji's blind.
water/Hyuuga metaphor.
"W-well, they don't know about us," she hesitated.
Hinata doesn't stammer in Celebrationverse, but almost everyone stammers occasionally, especially when they're hesitating.
Neji rested his head against her chest. There was no way he'd miss the erratic beating of her heart.
"Yes."
It was ridiculous, Hinata thought, getting annoyed at her own embarrassment. She had handled a thousand more difficult situations – the first time she'd openly disagreed with her father, the time when she'd found Hanabi was to be present at all the meetings of the Hyuuga council, the genjutsu which had shown her Neji, uncaring and expressionless, head tilted to the side, his arms crossed, watching her as she choked on her blood, when she'd faced the council as the head of the Hyuuga and had had to inquire to one of the members if they needed something for their throat, before they stopped coughing, chastened at last.
I can't seem to rid my writing of heads tilting. I tried to make the list representative of what difficulties Hinata could have faced until then; I like it because I think I managed to make it diverse, even if the last incidence is pretty cliché, all telling that it is, but I rather like the first three (and maybe especially the third).
"So they don't think I-" she struggled for words, "-am experienced."
They'd thought she was a blushing virgin, actually. In their defense, they were spot on about the blush – having sex was one thing, talking about it was another entirely.
They're still wearing way too many clothes for Hinata's inhibitions to let go now. *wants to stop having writer's block on the smut drabbles/ficlets*
Neji's hummed approval resonated within Hinata's body.
"So they started bothering me about it. They were nice," she amended, feeling exactly like an awkward five-year-old.
She adds this because she doesn't want Neji to do anything drastic to them or to believe she couldn't defend herself against their friends. But yes, she's basically justifying herself here.
Unhurriedly, he mouthed lazy, hot kisses against her covered breasts; under the thick jacket, she only felt the soft pressure of his mouth. His fingers were drawing small circles on the fine skin of her wrists.
It was distracting.
"Neji-niisan, y-you're distracting me," Hinata complained, voice hitched to the level of a stage whisper. She was running out of excuses, and there were disturbing layers of clothes between their bodies.
I liked repeating Hinata's thought and making her say it – it shows that she can't concentrate much, otherwise there'd have been only one of these two occurrences. Probably just the first, because she's clever enough to know that's precisely Neji's reason for doing this, but she's trying to buy time.
He stopped his ministrations to her chest.
"That is the point."
His grip on her wrist still firm, he lifted his right hand from the surface of the bed, and unzipped her jacket with only minimal fumbling. Then, pulling her fishnet-and-cloth top up, he gave her hardened nipple a long, sensuous lick.
Oh, the brainstorming for deciding whether Hinata should be wearing a bra. Pondering of METAPHYSICAL PROPORTIONS, yeah. (god, I love fandom. XD) I chose no because it's have been one more step to take into account as they squirmed on the bed, and I'm not at ease writing half-graphic material, and also it can bore me. The justification is that she'd planned to visit him.
Hinata's hips buckled, rubbing her thigh against him.
Neji buried his groan between her breasts, his obvious arousal the most satisfying part of the evening thus far.
I am 90% convinced 'the most satisfying part of the evening thus far' is at least heavily inspired from something else, but I don't know what, and I'm not sure if it's not just what I feel now because I've been thinking about it or because I've indeed plagiarized something without meaning to.
I had debated on the 'between her breasts'; should it be 'between' or 'against', and I think I chose 'between' because it seemed hotter.
Lying on her back with her hands immobilized, she couldn't push her advantage by soft teases, similar to his own, but her previous motion had altered their equilibrium; using her shoulders as leverage, she could free her right leg, and hooked it loosely over him. That way, Neji's cock was straining against her inner thigh; Hinata blew softly on him when he turned his face toward her.
Hinata's feelings – and mine, btw – at this point were 'WIN'.
"So what did they say?"
If Neji was taking an interest in the conversation – actually helping her come to the point – that meant he was becoming impatient. And not with the way Hinata was torturing herself over which words to use, if the shallow undulation of his hips was any indication.
I'm happy with this sentence. Because Neji started acting all on his own, so I knew that it was almost finished! I think I gave some thought over 'shallow undulation' – but I ended up selecting precisely the words I wanted.
Otherwise, blah, not happy because I fail utterly at keeping track of the sensation out of what's happening – I want to speak of Neji's weighing down on her and the mattress under her back, and maybe a noise out in the corridor or the wind out of the window, and I don't, and I end up with Standard Sex Scene.
But I'm afraid of mentioning too much because I don't want to lose the edge and start doing something more focused on ambience – I mean, they're rubbing against one another here, they won't be focused on much more than that. But still. I wanted to talk about the mattress under her back! I remember telling myself I really really wanted to mention it! And I didn't! FAIL!!!!!
He kept the serene posture admirably, but it was a lost cause, as his cock was digging into her thigh with every move.
Now this sentence was just fun. ('WIN' again.)
Not very convincing. Hinata gave a tentative impulsion to her hips, rubbing her thigh harder against him. Neji's hiss was very conclusive, so Hinata settled back into her relaxed, indulgingly submissive position.
I had a lot of fun in this scene because I tried to use the longest, most objective words ('serene', 'admirably', 'conclusive') to have a nice contrast with the 'hi we're having foreplay'. Wordiness is so sexy.
Now it's Hinata's turn to pretend to be doing what Neji wants her to.
He pushed her harder against the mattress, thrusting his hips down. It spread her legs more widely open and slammed their groins together, but she doubted it was his goal. His hands clenched around her wrists, so tight a dry moan escaped her lips.
Mention of the mattress, yay. I am aware that I'm doing a fixation out of it there, but I wanted to speak of it because of the sensation of suffocation/imprisonment, esp. because they're in a hospital room. Okay, stopping talking about it.
She imagined he was glaring at her.
She imagined the curse seal under his bandages, still and silent for now, a shadow constantly looming over him who was physically threatening the head of the Hyuuga clan. A shiver ran through her, pooling low in her belly.
See what I meant about the illicit/perverse -> it's about the Hyuuga clan rules and not the pseudo incest.
"What did you say?"
His breath was ragged, his teeth gritted. Hinata shifted her lower back. Neji growled.
I think this may be the first time I use the verb 'shift' in this. :D So proud!
Yes. Like that.
"I told them I haven't been a virgin for five years."
In many ways, her cousin was an undecipherable prick, Hinata reflected as his right hand let go of her wrist and trailed down her cheek, then her throat, then finally finished tugging her jacket off. The move was only marginally slower than his other deliberately tantalizing caresses.
Hinata is only slightly frustrated.
With her free hand, she mirrored his actions on his pajamas, discarding the shirt with a brisk, purposeful nonchalance that screamed this, in her opinion, had not come an instant too early.
"Oh," he said noncommittally.
Hinata nodded, exploring the skin she'd bared as if it had been more than one day since the last time she'd seen it. Everything about Neji was graceful, elegant, poised, and deadly, like a sheathed katana, powerful and controlled. Whenever she felt the sleek muscles shuddering under her fingers she felt as though a part of that control was coming undone, just for her.
At the moment her hand had slid down Neji's other arm and was prying open his hold on her left wrist.
"I didn't tell them who," she continued, both hands reaching out to untie the lace that kept Neji's pants up. They were riding low, leaving the hipbones uncovered, and Hinata licked her lips.
:)
"Oh," he said again in the exact same unemotional tone as before. He was pushing her top out of the way and doing miraculous things to the exposed skin, so Hinata forgave him for being a close-mouthed passive-aggressive bastard who could play her body like a flute. As long as he kept doing just that.
"Yes," she confirmed, slightly out of breath. She arched up to lick Neji's chest, scrambling to a half-sitting position and licking lower and lower down his belly. "I think Shikamaru may suspect something," she pensively added before diving again, lower than before, tongue dancing along intricate patterns and teeth grazing blunt lines on over-sensitive skin.
Again, I like the discrepancy between their discussion/tone and what they're doing.
This is the oddly gymnastics-like moment where Hinata goes from being on bottom to the two of them being more or less in a sitting position to her leaning down to suck him.
Neji convulsively grasped her hair as her mouth wrapped around his cock.
"…Oh," he breathed in a high-pitched voice. "Hin-nata–s-sama…"
Looking back, I should've deleted the name.
Hinata thought that this was worth everything.
Weakest ending sentence ever. At least there's some balance between the beginning and the end.
I can't believe that the 'graphic' scene was funnier to comment upon than the others (shorter! :D).
And I ended here because I wanted to commit suicide at the mere thought of going on and writing the entire sex scene, not to mention that the point of the scene is made; I've established that they're sleeping together, and Hinata told Neji about the discussion happening in the first part, so continuing would have meant making a even more Standard Sex Scene.
As a side note, I think that's about as normal as I'm ever going to write Neji and Hinata's relationship.
This part's official title should be, 'I fail at NC-17, really, I do.' (It's also known at 'The Sex Scene at the Hospital'.) The idea to add an 'aftermath' scene came when I wanted to make the fic clearly NejiHina. I thought it would be amusing to contrast Hinata's behavior with her friends (who don't know that NejiHina's relationship is sexual) and her behavior in the context of NejiHina.
Sneaking into the hospital was easy.
In the aftermath of the war, the medic-nins were still working themselves into the ground, and the security had relaxed enough that a shinobi could slip past the half-asleep genin receptionist without being stopped.
Can't remember why I decided to make the receptionist a ninja (I think I just went with fanon that hospital = shinobi hospital), but I remember why I made him/her a genin instead of a chuunin; I thought that Kabuto, though a genin, didn't downplay his abilities as a medic-nin (or did he? In my interpretation of canon he doesn't), so genin can decide to specialize as medic-nins; besides I suppose after a war, even if the normal rank for a receptionist is chuunin, with the many dead, they'd put a genin there so they'd be able to free a chuunin for other duties.
Retrospectively, I'm very happy about having written this, because in The Return (Part III), I go over the hospital system in Konoha, and the affluence of civilian adults joining up the Academy to become ninja; in my mind, I've decided that the genin receptionist here is one of these adult-civilian-turned-ninja.
It was one of those odd times when it was tacitly admitted that things like visiting hours and common rules needn't apply. Not for a few weeks after the end of a war – and rarely, if ever, when one's teammate or close family was gravely wounded.
I don't remember how these rules came to me while I was writing, but it seemed to make sense. In fanon, it seems like no-one ever respects visiting hours (Hinata sneaks in to see Naruto, Kakashi drops t any hour to annoy people, Naruto rolls over any argument against his presence…) so I decided to make it one of those things everyone knows happens.
Besides, it gives medic-nins one thing less to concern themselves about, which I'm all for – c'mon, they already have to heal people and make sure the patients don't get up from the bed to start training again and/or flee the hospital, both of which are canon, so anything that'd make them less exhausted is good in my book. :)
Not that anybody would stop a clan head from seeing a member of their clan. Even the Hokage would have some trouble justifying that to the elders and the other clans. The only instance Hinata could recall dated back from the Nidaime's days, when the Sarutobi clan head's attempted coup had misfired due to the intervention of the kid who'd later become Sandaime.
The reports had been unclear whether the Nidaime had been more outraged by the betrayal of one of the clans, the harm done to his student, or the heartlessness of a clan head willingly setting up one of her own. In any case the incident had proved that the man had every right of being Hokage in his own right, not just because he was Shodai's brother and one of the founders of the village. It was generally agreed that Nidaime had been the most ruthless Hokage thus far.
Backstory love. <3 (I'm a history nerd.) On Nidaime being the most ruthless Hokage; well, I think Tsunade might give him a run for his money, but when you look at Sandaime's flashbacks with Shodai and Nidaime, Shodai looks all nice and smiling whereas Nidaime looks stricter and sterner. (I LIKE MY FANON.)
The incident? Well, it just came up; I wanted one exception to the rule (I always do, I like hints that things are never as simple as they look, esp. where history is concerned). Come on, there's bound to have been at least one attempted coup in Konoha's history (in case this sentence doesn't make it completely clear, I'm not an American – unless I'm wrong, there have never been attempted coups in the US' history, right?)
Watch how I don't address the issue of the Shodai/Nidaime hinted confrontations. I never knew what to make of it.
The incident also serves to show that Hinata's rather knowledgeable about the history of the village, which I think makes sense for her character, as Hyuuga heir/Hyuuga head, especially one who doesn't agree with many of its traditions. I don't believe in tabula rasa; I don't believe in changing history or making the future better if you don't know what happened in the past. I don't even believe that you can understand the world as it is if you don't know the past. (Plz to be stopping considering history as 'irrelevant' and 'outdated' because then you'll start saying that the Shoah, for instance, was 'a detail' or 'faked', or start mixing 'Nazi' and 'German'.)
When I write a character who doesn't fit in with traditions etc and I want to show them as competent, I always make them know history. (cf my Andromeda Black in the Harry Potter fandom.)
Her father had visited her when she'd failed the prelims of the third test – once, Hanabi in tow.
'Only' once, Hanabi in tow.
Hinata hadn't been able to discern whether the man standing in her hospital room was her father or the head of the clan, but Hanabi had come again, uneasy and blushing, the first time empty-handed, then always bringing a flower, or a book, and detailed accounts of how the garden was. It was thoughtful of her; and Hinata knew which questions to ask to have an update on the clan itself without upsetting her little sister.
Hanabi deserves more love. I must say I hate fics where she's depicted as envious of Hinata or hating her sister. Maybe that makes me idealistic, but I don't think it'd be likely to happen quite like that in RL. (Psychology of the characters > OMG FANTASY/NINJAS/ROMANCE I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT) I'm more interested in Hanabi when she's conflicted; little girl/ninja, younger sister/possible heir, and I like her best when her softer side is played up and she's awkward and grumpy and fierce-and-a-little-lost.
Hanabi doesn't tell anything about the people in the clan because she's afraid of upsetting Hinata (she thinks Hinata a lot more fragile than Hinata actually is) and Hinata doesn't want to upset Hanabi's view on things by confronting her directly because Hinata never sees the use of distressing someone she loves needlessly.
Her father had also visited Neji after his fight against Naruto, which Hinata had known to be both from an uncle and from the Hyuuga head.
I like it when Hiashi's conflicting roles are broached upon, too. That doesn't mean I have to excuse him. He's stuck in a difficult situation with his brother/nephew/daughters, but he's still a bastard, and an incompetent, which is almost worse. :)
Hinata is aware of what happens in her clan. I think her situation in it was so on the verge of crashing down and burning that she had to develop an acute sense of perception of what went on around her. cf her fight against Neji and telling him plainly that he had suffered more than she.
So had done Hinata after the disastrous mission against the Sound Five.
She came to a stop before her cousin's room. The lights were switched off, which revealed nothing except that Neji was alone.
:) For once the lack of transition, I think, works, because after that mission was when Hinata first had sex and I thought cutting her thoughts off at the moment was good; in a way, it carries more weight.
Writing that Neji was blind, even if it's not his PoV, but keeping it at all times in Hinata's mind, was more difficult than I could have imagined, maybe because it was also my first time writing them together out of my first (UNPOSTED THANK GOD) Naruto fic, which was horribly horribly OOC but in my defense I hadn't read past Sasuke-in-a-bucket at the time.
Slightly smiling, Hinata opened the door. She chose not to insult him by intentionally making noise; he was blind, not dead. She, of all people, would never be able to slip unnoticed by him. That was what he'd been raised for.
I like 'That was what he'd been raised for', but only because I think it's a very cruel sentence about the Hyuuga clan. Incidentally, Hinata doesn't like it, and the reason she's smiling is only because she's going to see him squee.
I had Hinata chose not to make any noise because I pondered the possibility for a while; I made my justification against it Hinata's.
He was propped up against his pillows, head turned towards the door; he must've been expecting her. He might even have been aware of her presence since she'd entered the building – he was that attuned to her chakra. It was both flattering and disquieting.
Hinata felt her body tense up, the way it always did when Neji's blank eyes rested on her. The reaction was even stronger now than when Neji could see her. It was unacceptable of Hyuuga-sama to be affected so violently by one of her advisers, even one as valuable and as dear to her as her cousin, and this was actually one of the reasons why Neji was staying at the hospital. The Hyuuga weren't quite so blind that they'd fail to pick on it.
Again, IC justification of why Neji's there. Actually, there's also the fact that it's easier for Hinata to circumvent the Hyuuga council's influence when Neji is out of their area of authority and in the village hospital, but she's thinking of the Hyuuga noticing her Special Relationship with Neji because that would make things even more complicated (at least that's my excuse).
I needed an excuse why Neji, though apparently entirely healed except for his eyes which can't be healed, is still at the hospital when I imagine everyone would be quite in the hurry to push him out of it, so they'd have more room for other injured.
Side note: apparently the Hyuuga pays for single rooms for members of the clan. Or Hinata called in a favor from Ibiki/the Hokage. Or the Hokage knows that Neji is important to Hinata and doesn't want the Hyuuga to fuck a working situation up. You see, there are many perfectly reasonable (XD) excuses why Neji has a private room. Besides 'I want them to have sex and not worry about waking the other person up'.
She tried to groom herself back into control, telling herself that a disabled Neji was no reason for getting worked up, and certainly not in this fashion. She took a few shallow breaths to cool down, refusing to let the tingle run its course, and knowing by Neji's smirk that he knew exactly what impact he had on her, knowing by the tilt of his head, which made his hair fall on the side like a curtain, that he was equally receptive.
This paragraph is so representative of the way I write their relationship. And by that I mean how hyperaware they are and how likely to jump one another they are when they're even half-alone. (SHUT UP I SAY IF NEJI HADN'T PULLED UP HINATA'S SLEEVE DURING THEIR MATCH I WOULD NOT HAVE MADE THEIR RELATIONSHIP THAT CONSTANTLY SEXUAL. I think.)
"Hinata-sama," he greeted her with a murmur. "I trust you had a good evening?"
His tone was mocking and caressing. With a faint smile, Hinata walked over to the bed and sat down on the mattress. Usually she'd have reveled in the sensation of illicit belonging that accompanied her gestures, but tonight her friends' curiosity was fresh in her mind, and Neji's formal address didn't help the matter, even though she knew it was part Neji's smug brand of subservience, part his idea of public displays of affection, all the more pleasurable since no-one could suspect what he put behind it.
'smug brand of subservience'. There may be hints of D/s in the way I write NejiHina (er. Are they? I don't know, because I very much don't know anything about it) but if there are they are wholly unintended; I didn't theorize the way I see NejiHina before starting to write, all I know is that this is the way I see them, and my vision involves them shifting in and out and around of any 'role'. Mostly, they're rarely 100% straight-forward about what they're doing; for instance Neji's smugness here, or Hinata's indulging Neji later. (Topping from the bottom and/or girl on top: should get written moar.)
After all, he'd been the first one – and for almost all her life, the only one – to refer to her that way, even when it had seemed that she was destined to join the Branch House sooner or later and leave the leadership of the clan to Hanabi.
Why yes, this is one of my fanon interpretations of canon for shipping NejiHina.
Public displays of affection were not a good idea if they needed to talk. Which they most definitely needed to.
"We missed you," she told him, trying to find a way to break the news to him without sending him into shock and failing. "We've celebrated."
The corners of Neji's lips minutely curved. "Did you smuggle some beer for me?"
I wanted to write this because it's so normal. (Again with the beer.)
She had. Her stillness must have betrayed her, or else Neji had felt her cheeks were ablaze, because his lips stretched into a slow, pleased smile. Hinata's breath caught.
This, less so, but she's slightly embarrassed that he can see so well through her.
A word on the adjective 'pleased': when I use it, it denotes that the character for whom it's used is the one 'in charge' (ex: Orochimaru would look pleased if Sasuke learnt a new jutsu, Sakura would look pleased if Naruto didn't jump on Sasuke with a furious yell to try and bash his skull in at the slightest provocation) – it means that something went the way it should and the character is letting others know about their satisfaction. (and yes, it has often sexual connotations – possibility of a reward –as far as I'm concerned.) It's not really an adjective I'd use to describe something that isn't slightly dysfunctional.
"Why, Hinata-sama…"
She had to fight for composure at his quasi-purr. It was no wonder that after that she couldn't keep a mask on around him. As it was, she couldn't keep her mouth from opening slightly.
His hand trailed down her cheek; his thumb brushed against her lower lip. Suddenly Hinata realized that her fingers had entangled themselves in the back of his hair. Her body shifted forward.
Oh look, the foreplay just became physical.
'Suddenly Hinata realized…' -> I'm lazy and couldn't think of a smooth way to get her put her hands in his hair.
Neji's eyes were blank – not Hyuuga-like blank, but the blankness of absolute nothingness. Hinata knew it was part of her role to make it up to him, because he was her protective shadow, he was the one member of the Hyuuga who belonged to her – neither to the Main House nor to the village – and as such he was hers to take care of. He wasn't merely her responsibility the way the clan was, he was hers.
I mean, if you hadn't got that I have a fixation on possessiveness and the peculiar dynamics between Neji and Hinata.
I often like playing with the idea of 'responsibility' in fics, because it twists the RL concept (responsible can be the responsibility of a parent over a child; or the 'responsibility' of a XIXth century European nation to 'civilize' and 'care for' the good savages in Africa; or the responsibility a master has on a slave, or – XIXth century again – a man on his wife).
Neji would wholly disagree and say that indeed, he is hers, but that makes him have duties toward her, and absolutely nothing of the reverse.
He couldn't see her; she blew warm breath against his skin, and his lips opened like he wanted to drink the air.
My air-and-water Hyuuga metaphor. I'm not sure I could have made it even less subtle that he's drinking in her presence unless I made it completely blatant.
The first time he'd done that, he'd already been in the hospital, back from the mission (To Retrieve Sasuke, Act One) which had almost killed him, and Hinata had kissed him on impulse, without really knowing why – he was pale and drawn, and he'd looked at her with confused hatred, as if he didn't understand what he felt now that Naruto had snatched his resentment away. He'd looked like he needed comfort, and like he needed to stop thinking.
Hinata takes the initiative for several reasons: 1)I like when the girl's taking the initiative (the 'girl waiting for the male to bestow his attentions upon her' concept needs to die, and I know I'm preaching to the choir yeah) 2)I like it even more when it's Hinata 3) Hinata was much more likely to do something than Neji, who is, unless I'm greatly misinterpreting my canon, a lot more passive than she is (by which I mean, consider her pro-active attitude, trying to change, to get stronger, talking to Naruto etc and Neji accepting things even if he hates them with a passion).
I'm aware that the 'on impulse' thing is a cliché, and so is the latent hurt/comfort, b-but. I liked it. ;_; It WORKED.
Both had worked.
Eyes snapping open, she tore her lips away from his, and he emitted a noise of protest. She needed to tell him now.
"Do you know–" her tongue flicked over Neji's lips "–what teen-aged shinobi talk about," her voice was a pant, "when they're celebrating with their friends?"
lol. Originally the two actions described referred to her breath, but that was simply too much (PORN STAR HINATA), so I changed the first. Btw, it's taken me a while, but I've realized my Hinata has something of an oral fixation.
Neji scowled at her. His cheeks were blotted pink, his hair was in complete disarray, and his thin, aristocratic lips looked as well-kissed as a girl with her lip-gloss smeared.
I didn't make this as sordid as I could have.
"No idea, Hinata-sama. I hope it's worth the interruption," he succinctly bit out.
This had to be one of the reasons why Hinata had guessed what was going on with Team Seven. She knew first-hand the workings of difficult icy ninja prodigies, and she knew better than anyone that they had as much of a sex drive as any other teenager. She also knew that it was worth putting up with every bit of their stony aloofness, though in Sasuke's case it was probably more "bitchiness" than anything else.
I can only see Hinata think the last part of that sentence and be IC if she's trying to be scrupulously fair.
"Yes, thank you for demonstrating," Hinata muttered, pausing in her nimble unbuttoning of Neji's hospital pajama.
Neji was silent for a moment, his thumb continuing to brush the skin of her throat under her ear, either lost in thought or enjoying the feel too much to give it up. Her head tilted to the side.
"Oh. Sex." He cocked an eyebrow, tone flat. The effect was somewhat lost by his shudder when Hinata's fingers trailed over his chest. "I understand that, Hinata-" he gasped as she licked her way down his throat "-sama, but what does it have to do with us?"
I want to say that I had immense fun writing this exchange. Because Neji being petulant over delays in sex and Hinata not stopping even if it's obvious it's not helping the conversation was so much laugh to write.
Something that attracts me in the NejiHina relationship is the way they view one another, and the way it's reflected (or not) in how they address one another. I'm always disappointed when I read a NejiHina fic and I see they're not calling one another '-sama' '-niisan' anymore; to me it's removing part of the difficulty in that pairing, but also part of what interests me in it.
Because, you know, if I wanted cute and remotely normal, I'd be shipping KibaHina (no offence KibaHina shippers, but those things have nothing to do with NejiHina. No really. It'd be like ItaSasu without Itachi killing the clan or Ron/Hermione without the UST).
So I had them say the other's names a few times in the fic, just so I could have the suffix, to let the reader know that that hadn't changed. (Getting Hinata to say Neji's name was more difficult, and I had to change it places a couple of times because I didn't want it to feel pasted on. And it was very important to me that Hinata call Neji Neji-niisan, yes it was, because my interpretation of canon told me that as the Hyuuga heir, she should never have called a Branch House member like that in the first place, so it's one of the first rules my Hinata broke, and I very much wanted to keep that.)
Not to mention that their way of addressing one another is also a way of addressing the incest issue.
Disclaimer: they're cousins and I don't think having sex with your cousin is incest and guess what, my country's laws agree with me and I am MIGHTILY annoyed when I read 'incest' in the warning section of NejiHina or, say, Andromeda/Regulus (tried to use the two most non-spoilery names, sry for the minor character abuse) in Harry Potter fandom. No, I mean for good.
Other disclaimer: I'm a lot more squicked by situational incest than by blood-incest. (with a few select exceptions *Elricest shipper*)
Have an example to get what I mean; a GaaTema fic where Temari discovers she's been adopted and so it's okay for her to have lusty feeling for Gaara = incest squick. A situation where two people meet, have lusty feelings, then sex, and realize later that they're long-lost siblings = doesn't squick me at all and makes me feel bad for them (aw not fair), and then want to say, 'hey just use protection or whatever!'
(and while we're on the subject of Sand-sibs incest: the one I can see best is KankuTema, then GaaKanku – the first b/c of their bonding over Gaara's being a freak pre-Naruto, the second b/c of the discussion between the two in flashback.)
I'll leave cross-generational incest out of it because it always squicks me, whether the participants know they're related or not (and by cross-generational I mean because of the age-difference; if the aunt and her nephew, who have a difference of all of 5 years between them, are getting it on, I probably won't be squicked).
So to sum it up: I might actually be tempted to play the 'omg she's calling him niisan!' angle up in NejiHina's case because their interactions in canon couldn't have made it clearer that they're not siblings (and I don't mean Neji trying to kill Hinata, I mean Neji calling her Hinata-sama. Oh, and his pulling up the sleeve – not siblings as in not treating one another like siblings). That's why the 'Hinata-sama' is there. And even if they were, I'd be shipping them all the same, because Hinata doesn't stand for rules. That's why the 'Neji-niisan' is there.
He sounded somewhat strangled. His hands were resting on her hips, as they had the first time she'd leaned, half-straddling half-crawling into his lap, to kiss him.
What I meant when I say Neji's more passive.
"I should think that'd be obvious," Hinata's words were a little muffled against the crook of Neji's neck, as she let go of the wet patch of skin for a moment. She fully intended to resume her task until she was sure he'd sport a full-blown hickey. Unexpectedly, her back arched as Neji's fingers lightly touched her skin, under the vest, and she moaned.
Her forehead against his shoulder, she laid boneless against her cousin as he unbuckled her pants, her body twitching and whimpering when his digits ran over the seam of her panties. Her arms were draped over his shoulders, and the sole reason why she didn't hear his heart beating was because she was listening to his breath.
She felt him kiss gently the top of her head.
As a rule, I loathe when that happens in a pairing, because to me it's such a non-sexual thing – indeed the sort of thing that would happen between siblings, or a child and a parent – and I say I loathe, I mean I go 'ew ew ew squickity squickity squiiiiiick' and is the reason I'm 'wibble' about Willow/Tara.
I did it here because at the same time, they're undressing one another. Talk about conflicted messages… :)
"I know that, but what do we have to do with everyone talking about sex?"
Hinata twisted to press her breasts against him. We. We. Us. Neji used those words whenever he could; Hinata didn't think she'd ever get tired of it, or of the barely-perceptible emphasis he put on it. To anyone else it'd be arrogance – the arrogance of the Hyuuga – but the same perverse relish flooded through her when he did, leaving her reeling, determined, and horny.
'Illicit' earlier, and now 'perverse'; you think Hinata's aware she's breaking yet more rules? There goes the Hinata-angsts-over-evil-feelings plot (device). Wave it goodbye if you'll miss it, 'cause you'll never see it in Celebrationverse.
Sarcasm aside, I like when Hinata takes comfort where she can without flagellating herself about having sex with her cousin; I think that as a ninja, she's aware she could do much worse. I think the 'missing-nin'/'enemy-nin'/outsider/(maybe even civilian) stigma would hold much higher to her than the incest thing, especially since he's only her cousin, and especially since there's a good chance that bloodlines such as the Byakugan are bred, and would imply a lot of consanguinity marriages.
(rough theory: less so in the branch house, where some member might marry an outside, produce kids who wouldn't have the Byakugan but carry the gene, and who would marry higher in the hierarchy of the clan, bringing in new blood and about ½ chances of having kids with the Byakugan.)
Sp why the 'illicit' and 'perverse', if consanguinity is okay in the Hyuuga? Partly maybe because their fathers were twins, so it might be closer to straight incest than the clan is willing to deal with; more surely because Neji = branch house member and Hinata = Hyuuga head and both = don't like traditions, so the idea of the two together, should it cross the mind of a council member, wouldn't make them comfortable at all. (See Neji's use, and Hinata's approval, of 'we'.)
Oh, no, she had to tell him first.
She really couldn't tell him that while she was rubbing against him like a bitch in heat, she decided. She broke the embrace and the cooler air of the room engulfed between them, making Neji shiver and his hands clutch harder on her waist. …Or could she?
She tried to recollect her thoughts. The way Neji's hands were snaking up to her breasts made this most difficult, particularly since his pinkies were teasing – ghost-like – her ribs, and Neji's hot breath was now much closer to her face.
Hinata whimpered.
A second later Neji had crashed into her with only a token squeak from the mattress, and he was half-lying atop of her, keeping her wrists pinned to the bed, one in each of his hands, which Hinata liked a lot more than being immobilized by only one hand.
The way I understood this as I wrote it, Neji totally took Hinata's whimper for a signal that it was play for him to go on and be more aggressive. (He is right.)
"So, what happened."
He had his patient voice of the adviser of the clan head, and Hinata regretted that her position made it impossible for her to spread her thighs. Then again, they had to talk first, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.
Why yes, she likes it when he's in control. Because it's such a good opportunity for her to make him lose said control, as demonstrated by the last two sentences.
The talk would only take a minute anyway.
Hinata didn't look in Neji's eyes, though he likely wouldn't realize one way or another – or maybe that was the reason why she didn't look at him. It seemed unfair that she'd get to watch his reaction if he couldn't watch hers. Even if she knew that he didn't need to. She closed her eyes to bask in the warmth of his body fitting against hers, his breath caressing her skin like breeze on water.
I'm trying to remind everyone involved (myself, Hinata, the reader) that Neji's blind.
water/Hyuuga metaphor.
"W-well, they don't know about us," she hesitated.
Hinata doesn't stammer in Celebrationverse, but almost everyone stammers occasionally, especially when they're hesitating.
Neji rested his head against her chest. There was no way he'd miss the erratic beating of her heart.
"Yes."
It was ridiculous, Hinata thought, getting annoyed at her own embarrassment. She had handled a thousand more difficult situations – the first time she'd openly disagreed with her father, the time when she'd found Hanabi was to be present at all the meetings of the Hyuuga council, the genjutsu which had shown her Neji, uncaring and expressionless, head tilted to the side, his arms crossed, watching her as she choked on her blood, when she'd faced the council as the head of the Hyuuga and had had to inquire to one of the members if they needed something for their throat, before they stopped coughing, chastened at last.
I can't seem to rid my writing of heads tilting. I tried to make the list representative of what difficulties Hinata could have faced until then; I like it because I think I managed to make it diverse, even if the last incidence is pretty cliché, all telling that it is, but I rather like the first three (and maybe especially the third).
"So they don't think I-" she struggled for words, "-am experienced."
They'd thought she was a blushing virgin, actually. In their defense, they were spot on about the blush – having sex was one thing, talking about it was another entirely.
They're still wearing way too many clothes for Hinata's inhibitions to let go now. *wants to stop having writer's block on the smut drabbles/ficlets*
Neji's hummed approval resonated within Hinata's body.
"So they started bothering me about it. They were nice," she amended, feeling exactly like an awkward five-year-old.
She adds this because she doesn't want Neji to do anything drastic to them or to believe she couldn't defend herself against their friends. But yes, she's basically justifying herself here.
Unhurriedly, he mouthed lazy, hot kisses against her covered breasts; under the thick jacket, she only felt the soft pressure of his mouth. His fingers were drawing small circles on the fine skin of her wrists.
It was distracting.
"Neji-niisan, y-you're distracting me," Hinata complained, voice hitched to the level of a stage whisper. She was running out of excuses, and there were disturbing layers of clothes between their bodies.
I liked repeating Hinata's thought and making her say it – it shows that she can't concentrate much, otherwise there'd have been only one of these two occurrences. Probably just the first, because she's clever enough to know that's precisely Neji's reason for doing this, but she's trying to buy time.
He stopped his ministrations to her chest.
"That is the point."
His grip on her wrist still firm, he lifted his right hand from the surface of the bed, and unzipped her jacket with only minimal fumbling. Then, pulling her fishnet-and-cloth top up, he gave her hardened nipple a long, sensuous lick.
Oh, the brainstorming for deciding whether Hinata should be wearing a bra. Pondering of METAPHYSICAL PROPORTIONS, yeah. (god, I love fandom. XD) I chose no because it's have been one more step to take into account as they squirmed on the bed, and I'm not at ease writing half-graphic material, and also it can bore me. The justification is that she'd planned to visit him.
Hinata's hips buckled, rubbing her thigh against him.
Neji buried his groan between her breasts, his obvious arousal the most satisfying part of the evening thus far.
I am 90% convinced 'the most satisfying part of the evening thus far' is at least heavily inspired from something else, but I don't know what, and I'm not sure if it's not just what I feel now because I've been thinking about it or because I've indeed plagiarized something without meaning to.
I had debated on the 'between her breasts'; should it be 'between' or 'against', and I think I chose 'between' because it seemed hotter.
Lying on her back with her hands immobilized, she couldn't push her advantage by soft teases, similar to his own, but her previous motion had altered their equilibrium; using her shoulders as leverage, she could free her right leg, and hooked it loosely over him. That way, Neji's cock was straining against her inner thigh; Hinata blew softly on him when he turned his face toward her.
Hinata's feelings – and mine, btw – at this point were 'WIN'.
"So what did they say?"
If Neji was taking an interest in the conversation – actually helping her come to the point – that meant he was becoming impatient. And not with the way Hinata was torturing herself over which words to use, if the shallow undulation of his hips was any indication.
I'm happy with this sentence. Because Neji started acting all on his own, so I knew that it was almost finished! I think I gave some thought over 'shallow undulation' – but I ended up selecting precisely the words I wanted.
Otherwise, blah, not happy because I fail utterly at keeping track of the sensation out of what's happening – I want to speak of Neji's weighing down on her and the mattress under her back, and maybe a noise out in the corridor or the wind out of the window, and I don't, and I end up with Standard Sex Scene.
But I'm afraid of mentioning too much because I don't want to lose the edge and start doing something more focused on ambience – I mean, they're rubbing against one another here, they won't be focused on much more than that. But still. I wanted to talk about the mattress under her back! I remember telling myself I really really wanted to mention it! And I didn't! FAIL!!!!!
He kept the serene posture admirably, but it was a lost cause, as his cock was digging into her thigh with every move.
Now this sentence was just fun. ('WIN' again.)
Not very convincing. Hinata gave a tentative impulsion to her hips, rubbing her thigh harder against him. Neji's hiss was very conclusive, so Hinata settled back into her relaxed, indulgingly submissive position.
I had a lot of fun in this scene because I tried to use the longest, most objective words ('serene', 'admirably', 'conclusive') to have a nice contrast with the 'hi we're having foreplay'. Wordiness is so sexy.
Now it's Hinata's turn to pretend to be doing what Neji wants her to.
He pushed her harder against the mattress, thrusting his hips down. It spread her legs more widely open and slammed their groins together, but she doubted it was his goal. His hands clenched around her wrists, so tight a dry moan escaped her lips.
Mention of the mattress, yay. I am aware that I'm doing a fixation out of it there, but I wanted to speak of it because of the sensation of suffocation/imprisonment, esp. because they're in a hospital room. Okay, stopping talking about it.
She imagined he was glaring at her.
She imagined the curse seal under his bandages, still and silent for now, a shadow constantly looming over him who was physically threatening the head of the Hyuuga clan. A shiver ran through her, pooling low in her belly.
See what I meant about the illicit/perverse -> it's about the Hyuuga clan rules and not the pseudo incest.
"What did you say?"
His breath was ragged, his teeth gritted. Hinata shifted her lower back. Neji growled.
I think this may be the first time I use the verb 'shift' in this. :D So proud!
Yes. Like that.
"I told them I haven't been a virgin for five years."
In many ways, her cousin was an undecipherable prick, Hinata reflected as his right hand let go of her wrist and trailed down her cheek, then her throat, then finally finished tugging her jacket off. The move was only marginally slower than his other deliberately tantalizing caresses.
Hinata is only slightly frustrated.
With her free hand, she mirrored his actions on his pajamas, discarding the shirt with a brisk, purposeful nonchalance that screamed this, in her opinion, had not come an instant too early.
"Oh," he said noncommittally.
Hinata nodded, exploring the skin she'd bared as if it had been more than one day since the last time she'd seen it. Everything about Neji was graceful, elegant, poised, and deadly, like a sheathed katana, powerful and controlled. Whenever she felt the sleek muscles shuddering under her fingers she felt as though a part of that control was coming undone, just for her.
At the moment her hand had slid down Neji's other arm and was prying open his hold on her left wrist.
"I didn't tell them who," she continued, both hands reaching out to untie the lace that kept Neji's pants up. They were riding low, leaving the hipbones uncovered, and Hinata licked her lips.
:)
"Oh," he said again in the exact same unemotional tone as before. He was pushing her top out of the way and doing miraculous things to the exposed skin, so Hinata forgave him for being a close-mouthed passive-aggressive bastard who could play her body like a flute. As long as he kept doing just that.
"Yes," she confirmed, slightly out of breath. She arched up to lick Neji's chest, scrambling to a half-sitting position and licking lower and lower down his belly. "I think Shikamaru may suspect something," she pensively added before diving again, lower than before, tongue dancing along intricate patterns and teeth grazing blunt lines on over-sensitive skin.
Again, I like the discrepancy between their discussion/tone and what they're doing.
This is the oddly gymnastics-like moment where Hinata goes from being on bottom to the two of them being more or less in a sitting position to her leaning down to suck him.
Neji convulsively grasped her hair as her mouth wrapped around his cock.
"…Oh," he breathed in a high-pitched voice. "Hin-nata–s-sama…"
Looking back, I should've deleted the name.
Hinata thought that this was worth everything.
Weakest ending sentence ever. At least there's some balance between the beginning and the end.
I can't believe that the 'graphic' scene was funnier to comment upon than the others (shorter! :D).
And I ended here because I wanted to commit suicide at the mere thought of going on and writing the entire sex scene, not to mention that the point of the scene is made; I've established that they're sleeping together, and Hinata told Neji about the discussion happening in the first part, so continuing would have meant making a even more Standard Sex Scene.
As a side note, I think that's about as normal as I'm ever going to write Neji and Hinata's relationship.
