More NejiHina
"Double Quotes" are audible vocal communications
'Single Quotes in italics' are mental communications to oneself or others
Hizashi Hyuuga was dead. He was dead, deceased, inanimate, and proud of it. After all, he'd died first! After having been the twin whom life had hated, Fate had blessed him with the perfect chance to one-up his brother, and he'd taken it. Now, he was a ghost, gleefully haunting everything of interest in the world, occasionally returning to check up on his son and older brother. He didn't really need to look too hard at his family, after all, Hiashi would take good care of Neji, and his Neji-is-in-danger radar hadn't gone off with the predictable exceptions of the few slightly risky missions any genin with Maito Gai as a teacher would receive.
In fact, the last time it had gone off had been the fight with that Spider-kid of Orochimaru's. And boy, had Hizashi been on tetherhooks during that battle. But really, there were rules to being a ghost. And no matter how much he'd wanted to interfere, the only thing he could have done for Neji, he refused on more than just fatherly principle. Because contrary to popular mythology, ghosts couldn't touch solid objects if they tried hard enough, or possess random bodies to wreak havoc on unsuspecting bystanders. The only abilities ghosts possessed were in relation to the people they had interacted with in life. Ghosts could make themselves seen (but not heard) by those people, and they could possess them, but to anyone else, they were intangible and invisible.
Which was great for scaring Hiashi late at night, but not so great for protecting his only child (who possessed absolutely no self preservation instinct at all). But Hizashi could rest assured that his twin would look after his only child in the situations where his ghostly abilities would be of any use, so he could relax and take in the sights of the wide world. In fact, the Kyuubi Trail was one of the most interesting things he'd seen in years. Though the path of destruction had been cleaned up around Konoha, the Kyuubi had only been stopped there, it had been traveling/rampaging for quite some time. The ghostly travel agency had been booming ever since it had died, since now they could see the devestated landmarks without risk of being destroyed by an angry demonic fox.
“Isn't this scenery great? You can follow the path of tiny trees and see where it was headed! That's so cool, why didn't we have anything like this in Konoha?”
“Minato, we didn't have anything like that in Konoha because one, in order for it to have been created, the Kyuubi would have had to rampage for longer than we wanted it known. We had to accelerate the growth of several forests to compensate for the destruction, and we did that to project an aura of strength to the neighbors. Two, you killed the Kyuubi before Konoha could become a permanent crater, remember?” Fugaku, used to the thickness of the blond's skull, elaborated in an overly patient tone of voice.
“Oh, yeah, right, I totally get it now. But it would have looked so cool, Fugaku. Wouldn't it Hizashi? Don't you want to see a pretty corpse of miniature trees in the middle of Konoha? Or maybe a little lake?”
“No, bonsai's pretty much the clan hobby, and I despise everything to do with the clan, so no, I'd rather not, thanks. But the lake sounds interesting.” Hizashi's only trip to the beach as a teenager had been a branch family vacation, and as such, it had been a complete disaster.
“You would be interested in the same damn thing as that idiot. Now spelunking on the other hand, is an ancient and noble practice with many a practical application, as well. You two should give it a shot.”
“You've been nagging us to go exploring in caves forever, but we don't all have fancy see-in-the-dark eyes, you know. Some of us would like to keep from floating into too many rock walls, they always feel so gritty after you get out.”
“Ah, relax Minato, we have all the time in the world to try it out when we get to the end of the trail, or when Fugaku finds an interesting cave formation somewhere in the middle, it's not like we're going to get hurt, and we're not exactly short on time, are we?
'Ping! Your Neji-is-in-danger radar is going off now. Have a nice day!' Ah, shit. There went a perfectly nice week.
“Sorry Minato, Fugaku, it looks like our trip will have to be cut short. I need to go rescue my idiot kid. You know how it is.”
“Not really, mine's obnoxiously determined to live for some reason. Hey, maybe that fox thingie I tied to his soul has something to do with it. I'll miss you but hey, we respect your death choices. See you later!”
“Ah, goddamnit, I wish my kids would up and die already. Seriously, one killed me and the other ran off to get molested by that snake pervert over in Rice for two years! But whatever, see you when you get back. And why the hell you get the only kid without the fucked up family is beyond my knowledge, you airheaded circus clown of a ninja!”
“Dammit, don't get him going again, you careless bastard! If you're going, then escape the tirade while you can!”
With those enthusiastic farewells, Hizashi ran off at his top ghost speed towards Konoha, and where the ominous 'ping' emanating from Neji's displaced self-preservation instinct directed.
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Hinata hesitantly made her way into the set of basement rooms Neji had just vacated. She'd seen Hiashi take Neji in there for another of those special training sessions they enjoyed so much, but she hadn't ever seen Neji leave before Hiashi. Usually, Hiashi strolled out of the basement complex bright-eyed and bushy tailed, with Neji dragging himself out sometime later, looking much worse than his uncle. The switch was not very comforting to Hinata, because if the pattern held true, Hiashi would be the one exhausted and panting somewhere in the basement. Which was unfortunate, because she'd had something important to ask her father, and he was always in a better mood after a training session with Neji.
Still, she gathered some of her Naruto-grown resolve, and tiptoed closer to the sound of breathing. Upon seeing the source of the sound, she stopped in her tracks, raising her hand to her mouth for a good old fashioned horrified gasp. She had not been prepared to see her father dressed in a black sailor moon outfit lying on the floor with eyes open (she couldn't really tell what he was looking at without pupils), mouth agape, and drool trickling down his cheek.
“F-f-f-father? Are you all right?” Hinata received no answer.
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The 'ping' had tapered off. Hizashi was unsure whether this meant Neji was out of danger, or whether he had re-claimed his errant instincts. He suspected it wasn't the latter. But no matter what, he needed to check in on Neji, and make sure that he was staying safe.
'Let's see... the last direction it indicated was... that way! Wait a minute, I know where that is! It's that room Hiashi and I decided to turn into a ritual sacrifice altar when he became Family Head! We decided to use it to creep out Neji's girlfriends after he hit puberty! Ohhh, that's what the danger was? I'd better check! Neji's virginity, hang on until I get there!' Panicking, Hizashi rushed into the room.
Hizashi was stunned. His terminally shy niece was crouching over a long-haired figure in a black magical girl outfit. From the angle he was floating, he couldn't see their faces, but it was his son, he was sure of it! Of course he was taller after so many years, and perhaps he had developed some unhealthy habits, but...
'Neji and - and Hinata? No! No, it can't be, I raised my son better than this! I told him to protect her, but I didn't mean it! No, get away from my sweet innocent little baby boy, you slut!'
Hizashi had much the same hold on reality that his brother did. In fact, he might have had less sanity because of the constant feeling of resentment for his 3 minutes older twin sibling. Someone who was happy to volunteer himself for death in order to win his bet with Hiashi about 'who can get out of the Hyuugas first,' is not a very sane person. Therefore, what Hizashi did next was perfectly reasonable by his standards.
He possessed Hinata. And then he threw her spirit from her body.
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Now, if it had been any other time, Hinata might have had a better chance of resisting her uncle. She had improved from her terminally shy, unable-to-speak-without-stuttering self. She could speak without stuttering sometimes now! Well, she couldn't speak clearly to Naruto yet. Or her father. Or Hanabi. Or...well, maybe she hadn't improved very much. But she could talk to Kiba and Shino without stuttering much. And she could speak clearly to Hanabi on a good day! That was better, wasn't it?
Yes, on a good day, Hinata might have put up a decent fight. She was more comfortable in her head than she was in her body, so she had the home ground advantage. Her confidence had risen with her fighting skills, and while it wasn't a spectacular change, she would have been able to combat Hizashi for a while.
Well, this was not one of her better days. Neji was in a good mood. Nothing went well for her when Neji was in a good mood, especially because most of those good moods had been caused by her misery. Case in point, she had just found her father. In a very short sparkly black schoolgirl outfit. Drooling on the floor of the room with leering statues of dead family members. She was not in the proper frame of mind for any type of battle, much less one for control of her body with a ghost who happened to be very enraged at her for corrupting his baby boy.
This was why she was currently floating above her body, looking around in a panic. As she looked down towards her body, she noticed that it was moving. In fact, it was moving even closer to Hiashi's body. It reached it's hand up to Hiashi's chest, and poked it with two fingers.
'Why is it doing that? Is it just curious? Is that what my body's like without me? Wait-' That had been a Gentle Fist strike. Her body had just delivered a Gentle Fist strike directly over her father's heart, and she couldn't see Hiashi breathing. Oh, Sasuke-dammit! What just happened? Had her body just ejected her and killed her father? Would she be able to get back? If she did, how would she explain this?
'Naruto, what should I do? What can I do?'