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runespoorTitle: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son. (or: a cage is a cage is a curse, dammit.)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/fics on the AU premise stated in the title.
previously: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
12. family – take 3
He was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed, immobile. She was riffling through the drawers, her hands almost shaking, her moves frantic and violent.
At one point she yanked a drawer out, panting between gritted teeth, taking a step backward as the heavy wood slammed on the ground with a rumble, almost losing her balance.
Strands of hair had slipped out of the massive construction of her complicated hair-do, and most of the hair ornaments had collapsed on her shoulders. A mother-of-pearl inlaid comb clattered to the ground as she threw herself on her knees to tear through the books and scrolls, and she cursed violently when she almost fell on it as she turned on the side, entangled in a kimono that had never been meant for such activity.
Deliberately ignoring her growing panic, he glanced at the floor next to him, where her geta lay abandoned, haphazardly thrown away when she entered the room. He briefly tried to imagine his teammate in these, and found he couldn't.
The noise of ripped fabric called his attention back to the scene; his eyes shot up. He was half-expecting the worst already – her having shred her kimono in frustration, the sleeves, the obi, anything that restrained her and got in her way.
It was only the bindings of some ancient-looking volumes she was determinedly taking apart. He watched her blankly. The more she searched the more flustered she got, her moves even jerkier than a moment before – but fiercer.
"You should hurry," he said after a few more minutes, his tone carrying enough detachment to get to her, and also a hint - oh, merely a hint – of cool, amused disdain.
She snarled, an uncharacteristically straight-forward outburst for her.
"What do you think I'm doing, fucker – oh, here it is."
She was holding a piece of embroidered cloth. Of course, Neji reminded himself, a lot of really important official documents were kept on special fabric, and not paper, so they would keep with time. His tutor had told him about it, but he'd forgot. It would make sense that she hadn't.
He straightened, watching the priceless not-quite-historical document disappear under the multiple folds of Hinata's kimono, her dainty hands concealing it with practised ease. It made him wonder how much experience at this she had.
He took a look around the office. It looked like the Seven Swordsmen of Mist had fought there. With one another.
It entirely lacked a ninja's subtle flair, but it did the job, he supposed, with something that wasn't quite a mental sniff, and wasn't quite icy assessment.
Hinata's search had been methodical and hurried enough that he didn't need to add his touch to the apocalyptic vision that would meet his father when he entered the room. Not, he reflected, that he would have even if it had been necessary.
Then he looked at his cousin, critically examining her like he had done the room. She'd already redone her hair, the kimono was hugging her tight enough that it looked undisturbed, in spite of all the moving that she'd done, and the rice powder he knew she had to be wearing didn't let him know whether her cheeks were red or not.
"You look like the perfect Leaf kunoichi," he drawled, enjoying the spark in her pale, pale eyes. He knew better than to taunt her, of course; she always retaliated. But the occasion was too good to pass up.
"I'm not a whore," she shot back.
"And you're no kunoichi," he replied. "What are you possibly complaining about?"
Neji didn't miss the blade-like flash in her eyes at the casual mention of how she, unlike him, had never taken the genin test.
What she had been taught was rudimentary at best, the raw minimum expected in a daughter of a bloodline clan – and what she actually knew exceeded that standard in spades, though Neji didn't know how she had learnt what she knew and how much more she was disguising away, but unlike him, she didn't actually hold the rank.
It made marriage to an outsider incredibly easier, as they'd both come to realise over the last weeks.
Neither said anything about the 'Leaf'.
It had been a harsh shock on Hinata when she had understood she was being sold away, pawned off on a man who wasn't even a Hyuuga. Neji had gone to her room when he had overheard the mutters about the engagement; he'd been cruel to her, darkly mocking, unfaltering when she was throwing up and heaving dry, despair-fuelled sobs. He'd forced her to call him 'Neji-sama' every time she spoke.
It wasn't long before Hinata was trembling with hatred, but she hadn't told him to leave either.
They both knew his presence at her side had protected her – from herself, from the sucking feeling of helplessness already lurking in the corner of her mind, more than from anything else.
After all, they may have been competitors, once upon a time, for a title they'd both known would probably be Neji's in the end – though occasionally Neji had feared, yes, he'd dreaded, when his father's interest seemed to be caught by the tempting hints of Hinata's self-taught ninja skills and latent ruthlessness – but he was also the closest person to her, as she was to him. The closest to a friend, and a confidant, and a sibling, and a lover.
Neji had already known then that she loved someone, and he even knew who. He was the only one who knew.
She hadn't told him, no more than anyone else, but he'd guessed it, because he was the person who spent the most time watching her, always keeping on his guard for who knew when the snake would strike, and he had spied on her until he learnt the identity of the person.
She'd fallen fast, and she'd fallen hard, and she would sooner decimate half the clan than marry, when Uzumaki Naruto existed.
It didn't actually matter to Neji whether she married her fiancé or ran away with her paramour, and the second option would in fact remove her even further away from the running to the title. She could hardly be chosen as the clan head if she'd been at best disowned, now could she?
If it made Hinata happy to leave the clan she'd worked so hard to conquer, then…
(In truth, if Neji had been in Hinata's situation, cast away in an arranged marriage to make place for her cousin's ascension to the role of clan head, he didn't rule out that he would've done the same. Or he may have tried to kill her. Or to become her consort, at any rate.)
He realised he was staring at her. No man in his right mind would refuse her, he distractedly thought, and he happened to know that Hinata had planned her escape with Uzumaki Naruto's participation and knowledge. And Neji's himself, of course, but Neji preferred to think of his part as watching, and doing nothing either to hinder or to help.
She was biting on her lip, and her frown was wavering above liquid eyes.
Such hesitation was becoming, but he was half of a mind to tell her to keep it to her paramour, when the man would need some persuasion, and that practising her new-found role as a dependent runaway fuck toy on him was ineffective; she spoke before he could.
"Do you ever think of what could've happened if your father hadn't taken Cloud on their offer?"
He raised an eyebrow. Where was that coming from, all of a sudden? But he understood; she too was now standing on the edge of a world-changing choice.
"You mean, if the Hyuuga had stayed in Konoha?"
She nodded, her face serious.
Of course, this might concern not just the Hyuuga; Uzumaki was a Leaf-nin.
He considered, then shrugged.
"I cannot imagine things would be much different," he assessed coolly. He paused. "There would be a war, and you probably wouldn't be a ninja either, on account of how the Hyuuga wouldn't stand for one of their own being an official whore."
Hinata glared at him. He felt gratified; nevertheless, it was true. Konoha kunoichi's unsavoury reputation was well-known all over the ninja world. It was a specialty of Konoha.
His voice suddenly turned serious. "Be careful when you get there. Their Hokage – she's not a merciful woman, and you come from a traitor clan."
The traitor clan, Neji qualified in his mind. That thing with the Uchiha was nothing compared to the Hyuuga. A whole clan – gone overnight, to an enemy.
Neji had been too young to remember anything, of course, and he simply didn't care enough to ask for details of the events after the death of Hinata's father – assuming he'd have been told even if he'd asked – but the strain held even nowadays on the relations between Leaf and Cloud.
Hinata shrugged minutely, so her kimono rustled prettily. Somewhere in all that was the vow the Hyuuga clan head of the time had taken to the Shodai Hokage.
If nothing else, it should make the Hokage think of long-term consequences. Long-term consequences that would certainly involve offspring, and Konoha was a bit short in the doujutsu clan department lately. Most likely, they wouldn't dismiss (and dispose of) Hinata just like that.
Of course, that sort of long-term consequences were just as simply reached without consensual sex, but Neji figured it was a risk to take. Hinata was aware of it, too.
Besides, and though he would never admit it aloud, he trusted her. She'd make her way out of anything.
"There's an ex-traitor on Naruto-kun's team," Hinata said.
Neji frowned.
"His team?"
"They're waiting for us down the coast."
He observed her, and came to the conclusion that she was hiding something from him.
"Have you met them?" he asked.
He hadn't even heard of Uzumaki being accompanied by his team before now, the day Hinata was leaving, the day she was supposed to be carted off to her fiancé. He suspected having been played for a fool.
She smiled and didn't answer.
For several seconds, he tried to imagine Uzumaki's team, before discarding the field of speculation. He would never know unless he came face to face with them, anyway.
"You will not be stamped by missing-nin status," he continued.
Hinata nodded.
She looked… almost sorrowful. Secretly soft. Neji wanted to bristle, but he didn't because he was afraid he'd actually buckle. Instead he remained still and standing in front of her.
He prayed that she wouldn't ask him if he wanted to accompany her. Not because he might be tempted, but because it would hurt him like nothing else that she might have misunderstood him that much.
"Naruto-kun says I may become a ninja in Konohagakure," she told him.
Neji nodded, trying to understand why this piece of news didn't leave him quite as much at a loss as what he'd have foreseen.
"A Konoha whore. I think you'll be perfect for the job."
She smiled, with her lips and with her eyes.
"I hope it's the last time I see you," he uttered calmly, without a twinge of guilt or anger, or regret.
She was still smiling. If they did see each other again, with her a Konoha-nin and him a Cloud-nin, and both Hyuuga traitors, they'd be expected to kill their opponent. Maybe they might avoid it, but it would demand a lot of tedious questioning of their loyalty and mistrust from the Kage and other ninjas. Unless Neji somehow became Raikage, and Hinata landed herself in a position of influence over the Hokage, reunion in happy circumstances was unlikely.
She made the few steps that separated her from him, and, leaning up, with her hands, butterfly-like, on his shoulders, she placed a kiss on his lips. "Thank you, Neji-niisan," she whispered. Neji caught a whiff of mint and sake on her breath.
Then she slipped her geta on, turned at the corridor's corner, and walked out of Neji's life.
Author:
runespoor7Rating: PG-13
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/fics on the AU premise stated in the title.
previously: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
12. family – take 3
He was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed, immobile. She was riffling through the drawers, her hands almost shaking, her moves frantic and violent.
At one point she yanked a drawer out, panting between gritted teeth, taking a step backward as the heavy wood slammed on the ground with a rumble, almost losing her balance.
Strands of hair had slipped out of the massive construction of her complicated hair-do, and most of the hair ornaments had collapsed on her shoulders. A mother-of-pearl inlaid comb clattered to the ground as she threw herself on her knees to tear through the books and scrolls, and she cursed violently when she almost fell on it as she turned on the side, entangled in a kimono that had never been meant for such activity.
Deliberately ignoring her growing panic, he glanced at the floor next to him, where her geta lay abandoned, haphazardly thrown away when she entered the room. He briefly tried to imagine his teammate in these, and found he couldn't.
The noise of ripped fabric called his attention back to the scene; his eyes shot up. He was half-expecting the worst already – her having shred her kimono in frustration, the sleeves, the obi, anything that restrained her and got in her way.
It was only the bindings of some ancient-looking volumes she was determinedly taking apart. He watched her blankly. The more she searched the more flustered she got, her moves even jerkier than a moment before – but fiercer.
"You should hurry," he said after a few more minutes, his tone carrying enough detachment to get to her, and also a hint - oh, merely a hint – of cool, amused disdain.
She snarled, an uncharacteristically straight-forward outburst for her.
"What do you think I'm doing, fucker – oh, here it is."
She was holding a piece of embroidered cloth. Of course, Neji reminded himself, a lot of really important official documents were kept on special fabric, and not paper, so they would keep with time. His tutor had told him about it, but he'd forgot. It would make sense that she hadn't.
He straightened, watching the priceless not-quite-historical document disappear under the multiple folds of Hinata's kimono, her dainty hands concealing it with practised ease. It made him wonder how much experience at this she had.
He took a look around the office. It looked like the Seven Swordsmen of Mist had fought there. With one another.
It entirely lacked a ninja's subtle flair, but it did the job, he supposed, with something that wasn't quite a mental sniff, and wasn't quite icy assessment.
Hinata's search had been methodical and hurried enough that he didn't need to add his touch to the apocalyptic vision that would meet his father when he entered the room. Not, he reflected, that he would have even if it had been necessary.
Then he looked at his cousin, critically examining her like he had done the room. She'd already redone her hair, the kimono was hugging her tight enough that it looked undisturbed, in spite of all the moving that she'd done, and the rice powder he knew she had to be wearing didn't let him know whether her cheeks were red or not.
"You look like the perfect Leaf kunoichi," he drawled, enjoying the spark in her pale, pale eyes. He knew better than to taunt her, of course; she always retaliated. But the occasion was too good to pass up.
"I'm not a whore," she shot back.
"And you're no kunoichi," he replied. "What are you possibly complaining about?"
Neji didn't miss the blade-like flash in her eyes at the casual mention of how she, unlike him, had never taken the genin test.
What she had been taught was rudimentary at best, the raw minimum expected in a daughter of a bloodline clan – and what she actually knew exceeded that standard in spades, though Neji didn't know how she had learnt what she knew and how much more she was disguising away, but unlike him, she didn't actually hold the rank.
It made marriage to an outsider incredibly easier, as they'd both come to realise over the last weeks.
Neither said anything about the 'Leaf'.
It had been a harsh shock on Hinata when she had understood she was being sold away, pawned off on a man who wasn't even a Hyuuga. Neji had gone to her room when he had overheard the mutters about the engagement; he'd been cruel to her, darkly mocking, unfaltering when she was throwing up and heaving dry, despair-fuelled sobs. He'd forced her to call him 'Neji-sama' every time she spoke.
It wasn't long before Hinata was trembling with hatred, but she hadn't told him to leave either.
They both knew his presence at her side had protected her – from herself, from the sucking feeling of helplessness already lurking in the corner of her mind, more than from anything else.
After all, they may have been competitors, once upon a time, for a title they'd both known would probably be Neji's in the end – though occasionally Neji had feared, yes, he'd dreaded, when his father's interest seemed to be caught by the tempting hints of Hinata's self-taught ninja skills and latent ruthlessness – but he was also the closest person to her, as she was to him. The closest to a friend, and a confidant, and a sibling, and a lover.
Neji had already known then that she loved someone, and he even knew who. He was the only one who knew.
She hadn't told him, no more than anyone else, but he'd guessed it, because he was the person who spent the most time watching her, always keeping on his guard for who knew when the snake would strike, and he had spied on her until he learnt the identity of the person.
She'd fallen fast, and she'd fallen hard, and she would sooner decimate half the clan than marry, when Uzumaki Naruto existed.
It didn't actually matter to Neji whether she married her fiancé or ran away with her paramour, and the second option would in fact remove her even further away from the running to the title. She could hardly be chosen as the clan head if she'd been at best disowned, now could she?
If it made Hinata happy to leave the clan she'd worked so hard to conquer, then…
(In truth, if Neji had been in Hinata's situation, cast away in an arranged marriage to make place for her cousin's ascension to the role of clan head, he didn't rule out that he would've done the same. Or he may have tried to kill her. Or to become her consort, at any rate.)
He realised he was staring at her. No man in his right mind would refuse her, he distractedly thought, and he happened to know that Hinata had planned her escape with Uzumaki Naruto's participation and knowledge. And Neji's himself, of course, but Neji preferred to think of his part as watching, and doing nothing either to hinder or to help.
She was biting on her lip, and her frown was wavering above liquid eyes.
Such hesitation was becoming, but he was half of a mind to tell her to keep it to her paramour, when the man would need some persuasion, and that practising her new-found role as a dependent runaway fuck toy on him was ineffective; she spoke before he could.
"Do you ever think of what could've happened if your father hadn't taken Cloud on their offer?"
He raised an eyebrow. Where was that coming from, all of a sudden? But he understood; she too was now standing on the edge of a world-changing choice.
"You mean, if the Hyuuga had stayed in Konoha?"
She nodded, her face serious.
Of course, this might concern not just the Hyuuga; Uzumaki was a Leaf-nin.
He considered, then shrugged.
"I cannot imagine things would be much different," he assessed coolly. He paused. "There would be a war, and you probably wouldn't be a ninja either, on account of how the Hyuuga wouldn't stand for one of their own being an official whore."
Hinata glared at him. He felt gratified; nevertheless, it was true. Konoha kunoichi's unsavoury reputation was well-known all over the ninja world. It was a specialty of Konoha.
His voice suddenly turned serious. "Be careful when you get there. Their Hokage – she's not a merciful woman, and you come from a traitor clan."
The traitor clan, Neji qualified in his mind. That thing with the Uchiha was nothing compared to the Hyuuga. A whole clan – gone overnight, to an enemy.
Neji had been too young to remember anything, of course, and he simply didn't care enough to ask for details of the events after the death of Hinata's father – assuming he'd have been told even if he'd asked – but the strain held even nowadays on the relations between Leaf and Cloud.
Hinata shrugged minutely, so her kimono rustled prettily. Somewhere in all that was the vow the Hyuuga clan head of the time had taken to the Shodai Hokage.
If nothing else, it should make the Hokage think of long-term consequences. Long-term consequences that would certainly involve offspring, and Konoha was a bit short in the doujutsu clan department lately. Most likely, they wouldn't dismiss (and dispose of) Hinata just like that.
Of course, that sort of long-term consequences were just as simply reached without consensual sex, but Neji figured it was a risk to take. Hinata was aware of it, too.
Besides, and though he would never admit it aloud, he trusted her. She'd make her way out of anything.
"There's an ex-traitor on Naruto-kun's team," Hinata said.
Neji frowned.
"His team?"
"They're waiting for us down the coast."
He observed her, and came to the conclusion that she was hiding something from him.
"Have you met them?" he asked.
He hadn't even heard of Uzumaki being accompanied by his team before now, the day Hinata was leaving, the day she was supposed to be carted off to her fiancé. He suspected having been played for a fool.
She smiled and didn't answer.
For several seconds, he tried to imagine Uzumaki's team, before discarding the field of speculation. He would never know unless he came face to face with them, anyway.
"You will not be stamped by missing-nin status," he continued.
Hinata nodded.
She looked… almost sorrowful. Secretly soft. Neji wanted to bristle, but he didn't because he was afraid he'd actually buckle. Instead he remained still and standing in front of her.
He prayed that she wouldn't ask him if he wanted to accompany her. Not because he might be tempted, but because it would hurt him like nothing else that she might have misunderstood him that much.
"Naruto-kun says I may become a ninja in Konohagakure," she told him.
Neji nodded, trying to understand why this piece of news didn't leave him quite as much at a loss as what he'd have foreseen.
"A Konoha whore. I think you'll be perfect for the job."
She smiled, with her lips and with her eyes.
"I hope it's the last time I see you," he uttered calmly, without a twinge of guilt or anger, or regret.
She was still smiling. If they did see each other again, with her a Konoha-nin and him a Cloud-nin, and both Hyuuga traitors, they'd be expected to kill their opponent. Maybe they might avoid it, but it would demand a lot of tedious questioning of their loyalty and mistrust from the Kage and other ninjas. Unless Neji somehow became Raikage, and Hinata landed herself in a position of influence over the Hokage, reunion in happy circumstances was unlikely.
She made the few steps that separated her from him, and, leaning up, with her hands, butterfly-like, on his shoulders, she placed a kiss on his lips. "Thank you, Neji-niisan," she whispered. Neji caught a whiff of mint and sake on her breath.
Then she slipped her geta on, turned at the corridor's corner, and walked out of Neji's life.
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