Fanfic - Overflow
Title: Overflow
Author/Artist: tasogaretaichou
Pairing: Hyuuga Neji x Hyuuga HInata
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: #27 - Overflow
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine
Summary: For 30_kisses, it takes a near-crisis for Neji to realize what's important in his life.
He'd never really wanted this. "This" being the marriage his family had arranged between himself and the timid, quiet girl he'd watched -- first with adoration, then anger and resentment, then calm acceptance -- grow up beside him. Well, perhaps "beside" was a bit of an overstatement, given the circumstances. Born to twin fathers, by all rights they should have travelled parallel paths through life. But that would have been the situation, had they belonged to any other family.
Only.... they didn't. They belonged to the Hyuuga, one of the oldest, and most traditional clans of Konohagakure.
Tradition. Neji was of a different mind on that, he considered it more a case of the clan being so steeped and stagnated by it's own "traditions" and practices, so mired down in the dregs of what had become "normal: to them, that they couldn't even see the way their stranglehold over their own bloodline and keikei genkai was corroding the roots of that very bloodline. But then, he had never been one of the privileged few, that small percentage of those born with the emotionless white eyes of the Hyuuga who had the opportunity to go through life unmarred, their futures unrestricted by harsh green lines drawn in jutsu across their foreheads. Those who did not live their lives in perpetual fear of the day when they, like so many before them, would be led as lambs to the slaughter in order to preserve the life of someone who lorded over them solely by an accident of birth.
Perhaps that was one of the main reasons why Neji had never appreciated his cousin. Hinata was, for lack of a better word, an abject failure as a shinobi. Weak, kind-hearted, not at all the sort of swift, calculating, measured and confident person that the Hyuuga needed as their head. She was an enigma, the proverbial dove roosting amidst the carnage that was their world. And... he'd never really understood that, at least not until much later, when he'd seen how the balm of her soothing presence, along with her caring and willing nature served as a potent poultice to knit a ruined clan back together.
It was the first time he'd watched her, small and shaking, biting her lower lip beneath her father's disapproving stare, pale eyes downcast towards her fisted hands, that he'd found himself shocked to see her take a deep breath and mutter something to herself before her trembling ceased and she raised her head in an almost defiant manner, staring Hiashi straight in the eye for a moment before addressing the rest of the council. It was her first time addressing them as their recognized head, and it was obvious from their reaction that Hyuuga Neji was not the only one shocked at the meek kunoichi's sudden display of strength.
And he'd seen it ever since, gradually becoming easier for her to express, as she carefully bent and wove the reeds of the Hyuuga together, meshing them back into the fabric that they perhaps always should have been. It honestly hadn't been that much of a surprise when Hiashi had told him that he would be the one chosen as Hinata's husband. In reality, it was only convenience and the simple fact that she, as the head of the clan, and he; the one who had inherited the strongest of the bloodline in their generation, would produce an heir worthy of surpassing them all. And that was the reason why he'd not sought to protest or contest the decision. It wasn't his place, certainly, and it was the logical decision. His fate, in an ironic way.
So he'd gone along with it, through the awkwardness of explaining to friends and teammates who couldn't understand that this was how it was done in a noble clan -- surprisingly, Chouji and Shikamaru had been the most understanding, but then the Akimichi were nobles as well, though less steeped in tradition and Shikamaru was Chouji's best friend -- and through the surprisingly difficult task of watching Hinata resign herself that a life with her beloved yet oblivious Naruto was not to be. She took it very well, he had to admit, and Neji couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't always known that circumstances would never have allowed her childish dream to take flight.
Their marriage had been a ceremony, in truth that was all it had been as he'd sat stoney-faced through vows and speeches, nodding when prompted to, and speaking the correct words when it came time. A formality, simple and true, and one that he approached with the same calculated manner in which he approached all his missions. He didn't love her, she didn't love him, and both of them knew it. Theirs was not meant to be a marriage of love.
All of this was simple fact to Neji, just as the details to his latest mission were simple fact. Clean, sterile, devoid of feeling. What wasn't simple fact was the indescribable sinking feeling that settled deep in the pit of his stomach as he listened -- silently and without emotion -- to the words the young medic at the hospital told him. Those words that heralded bad news and worry. He'd expected it, at least in some portion of himself. Hyuuga women weren't known for their hardiness in childbirth, that was precisely the reason why not only he, but also Hinata and Hanabi had grown up without a mother in their lives. What he hadn't expected was the way the news struck him, biting as deeply into him as the kunai that occasionally managed to get past his defenses as he led his ANBU team on their dangerous S-ranked missions.
Hyuuga Neji, who had never before been afraid of anything, was terrified. Utterly petrified at the posssibility of losing something that he'd never realized was such a huge central point of his life. And... she was. He didn't even know how, or why, or when it had happened. But somewhere between their sham -- as he'd seen it -- of a marriage, and the life they'd shakily built together of convenience and formality, the unexpected had happened. Where he'd thought nothing could ever grow, love had bloomed. Or... something like love, at least.
Whether the feeling was the sort of love Ino or Sakura waxed on about, or the sort of thing Shikamaru grumbled off as troublesome wasn't really important, at least not to Neji as he made his way down the hallway to where they were waiting for him, silently begging whatever gods he could think of that everything work out, that the dark forboding clouds be swept away by this new revelation. It was cliche, certainly, but he wasn't too proud to admit -- at least to himself -- that he didn't want to lose her, not now. Not when he'd just realized what a gift he'd been given when her father had betrothed them.
And for once -- he might have said the third time -- fate did not choose to follow it's typical sway. At least, not in Neji's eyes as he knelt at the head of the bed and squeezed a pale hand, pressing a gentle kiss to her damp forehead, and uncharacteristicaly tender look in his eyes as he smiled faintly down at the woman who'd managed to capture his heart without even trying. Neji felt as though he should have spoken, told her something, anything to convey the myriad of sudden emotions he was feeling, and yet the only thing he could manage was a shaky glance at the sleeping bundle in the incubator by the bed and blink back the tears that threatened to overflow before turning back to her and giving her hand another squeeze.
"We have a son..."
Author/Artist: tasogaretaichou
Pairing: Hyuuga Neji x Hyuuga HInata
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: #27 - Overflow
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine
Summary: For 30_kisses, it takes a near-crisis for Neji to realize what's important in his life.
He'd never really wanted this. "This" being the marriage his family had arranged between himself and the timid, quiet girl he'd watched -- first with adoration, then anger and resentment, then calm acceptance -- grow up beside him. Well, perhaps "beside" was a bit of an overstatement, given the circumstances. Born to twin fathers, by all rights they should have travelled parallel paths through life. But that would have been the situation, had they belonged to any other family.
Only.... they didn't. They belonged to the Hyuuga, one of the oldest, and most traditional clans of Konohagakure.
Tradition. Neji was of a different mind on that, he considered it more a case of the clan being so steeped and stagnated by it's own "traditions" and practices, so mired down in the dregs of what had become "normal: to them, that they couldn't even see the way their stranglehold over their own bloodline and keikei genkai was corroding the roots of that very bloodline. But then, he had never been one of the privileged few, that small percentage of those born with the emotionless white eyes of the Hyuuga who had the opportunity to go through life unmarred, their futures unrestricted by harsh green lines drawn in jutsu across their foreheads. Those who did not live their lives in perpetual fear of the day when they, like so many before them, would be led as lambs to the slaughter in order to preserve the life of someone who lorded over them solely by an accident of birth.
Perhaps that was one of the main reasons why Neji had never appreciated his cousin. Hinata was, for lack of a better word, an abject failure as a shinobi. Weak, kind-hearted, not at all the sort of swift, calculating, measured and confident person that the Hyuuga needed as their head. She was an enigma, the proverbial dove roosting amidst the carnage that was their world. And... he'd never really understood that, at least not until much later, when he'd seen how the balm of her soothing presence, along with her caring and willing nature served as a potent poultice to knit a ruined clan back together.
It was the first time he'd watched her, small and shaking, biting her lower lip beneath her father's disapproving stare, pale eyes downcast towards her fisted hands, that he'd found himself shocked to see her take a deep breath and mutter something to herself before her trembling ceased and she raised her head in an almost defiant manner, staring Hiashi straight in the eye for a moment before addressing the rest of the council. It was her first time addressing them as their recognized head, and it was obvious from their reaction that Hyuuga Neji was not the only one shocked at the meek kunoichi's sudden display of strength.
And he'd seen it ever since, gradually becoming easier for her to express, as she carefully bent and wove the reeds of the Hyuuga together, meshing them back into the fabric that they perhaps always should have been. It honestly hadn't been that much of a surprise when Hiashi had told him that he would be the one chosen as Hinata's husband. In reality, it was only convenience and the simple fact that she, as the head of the clan, and he; the one who had inherited the strongest of the bloodline in their generation, would produce an heir worthy of surpassing them all. And that was the reason why he'd not sought to protest or contest the decision. It wasn't his place, certainly, and it was the logical decision. His fate, in an ironic way.
So he'd gone along with it, through the awkwardness of explaining to friends and teammates who couldn't understand that this was how it was done in a noble clan -- surprisingly, Chouji and Shikamaru had been the most understanding, but then the Akimichi were nobles as well, though less steeped in tradition and Shikamaru was Chouji's best friend -- and through the surprisingly difficult task of watching Hinata resign herself that a life with her beloved yet oblivious Naruto was not to be. She took it very well, he had to admit, and Neji couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't always known that circumstances would never have allowed her childish dream to take flight.
Their marriage had been a ceremony, in truth that was all it had been as he'd sat stoney-faced through vows and speeches, nodding when prompted to, and speaking the correct words when it came time. A formality, simple and true, and one that he approached with the same calculated manner in which he approached all his missions. He didn't love her, she didn't love him, and both of them knew it. Theirs was not meant to be a marriage of love.
All of this was simple fact to Neji, just as the details to his latest mission were simple fact. Clean, sterile, devoid of feeling. What wasn't simple fact was the indescribable sinking feeling that settled deep in the pit of his stomach as he listened -- silently and without emotion -- to the words the young medic at the hospital told him. Those words that heralded bad news and worry. He'd expected it, at least in some portion of himself. Hyuuga women weren't known for their hardiness in childbirth, that was precisely the reason why not only he, but also Hinata and Hanabi had grown up without a mother in their lives. What he hadn't expected was the way the news struck him, biting as deeply into him as the kunai that occasionally managed to get past his defenses as he led his ANBU team on their dangerous S-ranked missions.
Hyuuga Neji, who had never before been afraid of anything, was terrified. Utterly petrified at the posssibility of losing something that he'd never realized was such a huge central point of his life. And... she was. He didn't even know how, or why, or when it had happened. But somewhere between their sham -- as he'd seen it -- of a marriage, and the life they'd shakily built together of convenience and formality, the unexpected had happened. Where he'd thought nothing could ever grow, love had bloomed. Or... something like love, at least.
Whether the feeling was the sort of love Ino or Sakura waxed on about, or the sort of thing Shikamaru grumbled off as troublesome wasn't really important, at least not to Neji as he made his way down the hallway to where they were waiting for him, silently begging whatever gods he could think of that everything work out, that the dark forboding clouds be swept away by this new revelation. It was cliche, certainly, but he wasn't too proud to admit -- at least to himself -- that he didn't want to lose her, not now. Not when he'd just realized what a gift he'd been given when her father had betrothed them.
And for once -- he might have said the third time -- fate did not choose to follow it's typical sway. At least, not in Neji's eyes as he knelt at the head of the bed and squeezed a pale hand, pressing a gentle kiss to her damp forehead, and uncharacteristicaly tender look in his eyes as he smiled faintly down at the woman who'd managed to capture his heart without even trying. Neji felt as though he should have spoken, told her something, anything to convey the myriad of sudden emotions he was feeling, and yet the only thing he could manage was a shaky glance at the sleeping bundle in the incubator by the bed and blink back the tears that threatened to overflow before turning back to her and giving her hand another squeeze.
"We have a son..."