Reminisce {Hinata}

[sam]

Neji closed his eyes and smiled - his signature smirk. Condescending at times, often cynical, but now he was just content. He could use the conversation, it was actually cheering him up a bit.

"Ha, you're going to have to give me a little more than that," he remarked good-naturedly.

He rubbed his neck awkwardly, not sure how to ask this. Neji generally didn't think of himself as an empathetic person.

"Er... would you... care to sit down?" He asked awkwardly.

[jose12323]

"O-oh....b-but" Hinata said looking up,it wasn´t so early now.
"well...ok,thanks" Hinata said,sitting down,looking at Neji.
"ummm...h-how have you been?"Hinata asked.
The wind was blowing ildly outside,but Hinata couldn´t feel it directly but subtly,she looked at the big tree with the birds for a minute.
"Do.....you want to talk about something?" Hinata asked,smiling warmly to her cousin.

[sam]

"Do you want to talk about something?"

Neji looked down as she said this. Yes.

"No," he replied softly. His eyes glowed faintly in the light of a lantern that he had set to stave off the darkness. He felt imprisoned by his own thoughts, and Hinata sounded as if she had a lot on her mind as well.

"Why were you so set on being alone?" He asked Hinata, turning his head towards her.

[jose12323]

Hinata looked at Neji,then looked at her lap.
"I-its just that......"Hinata said then added,looking at Neji frowning a little with a nervous fainting smile "....I don´t want people to know how REALLY weak i am." Hinata said,as she then looked back to her lap playing with his fingers,thinking about the chuunin exams,as shebited her lips-not very hard.

The birds started singing again,this time flyng highter and igher,avoiding tree branches.

[sam]

Neji gazed at his cousin. He could tell what she was thinking... that they were both thinking the same thing. The Chunin exams. It was exactly the thing that had kept him up all night, awake even within the forsaken sanctuary of his dreams. He exhaled softly and craned his neck, letting his hands fall to his lap.

What should I say? He thought to himself, lost for words. I know that she has had a hard time in the past... I should comfort her. What good am I if I can't even manage that?

"I don't think that at all, Hinata-sama," he said quietly. "I hope that I have not given off the wrong impression..."

He looked back down at his hands, resting limply on his lap. His eyes dropped, clouded with nostalgia. He always felt like he said the wrong things.

[jose12323]

Hinata jumped a little in her place,she looked at neji with eeys wide open.
"N-no! N-...N-no Neji-neechan i didn´t meant you...I....I" Hinata tried to make the words she was trying to articulate to go out of her mouth and be audible-but she couldn´t!

"I´m sorry..." She said,knowing exactly what Neji meant. "B-but...." Hinata added "I must be weak-afterall my sister.......t-that is five-FIVE! years y-younger than me is possibly stronger...." Hinata said,looking at her lap again,biting her lip again,then looking at Neji.
"Its....Not....your fault Neji....its not-it is actually mines" Hinata added,nearly crying-but she didn´t she could and would control herself.

[sam]

Neji's eyes widened slightly at the tone of her voice. This was still haunting her, after all of this time? He analyzed her face, her gestures, little hints in the slightest of movements... she was doing everything in her power to fight back an onslaught of tears. He noticed that she was biting her lip.

There I go, making everything worse again, Neji thought, looking at her somberly. He hated seeing Hinata upset.

"Don't cry," Neji murmured. "Please. I didn't mean to upset you..."

Neji's eyes were downcast. He felt terrible, to think that Hinata had been living with this for so long. She hadn't said much of anything before. An overwhelming guilt settled over him. Could it be that the same day, so many years ago, was the day that had stolen both of their sleep?

"Do you think I changed? Maybe just a little?" She had asked. He remembered the tremor in her voice as her eyes flickered. The things that he had said were downright cruel, he knew that now. Still, he couldn't help but think... was it he who had imposed this feeling of inferiority on Hinata? If only he knew then what he did now.....

"Do you think I changed?" It was in that moment that Neji had awoken, paralyzed.

Am I unchanged as well? Am I still that person? He thought.

Neji let his forehead fall into the crease between his knees.

[jose12323]

"D-Don´t worry....I´m fine..." Hinata said,slowly as she cleaned her forming tears with her hands.Then looking at Neji with her white eyes,triying to see his face but it was nto possible-as his head was stuck in between the crease between his legs.

Hinata stopped cleaning the tears and slowly got near Neji,she tried to see his face once more.
"N-Neji...is not your fault,D-dont worry....you didnt upset me.." She said then thinking -It was my father- her large flowing hair was as straight as the tree in the middle of the hyuuga compound,as she exhaled air and then said "do you want to train?" Hinata said,realizing that the sun had already appeared and that her father won´t be mad because she was always up at this hour.

[sam]

Neji looked up and found that she was also staring down at him. He put on a brave face and smiled slightly.

"Yes... thank you," he said, running a hand through his ruffled hair. He wasn't in the physical state to train, what with the lack of sleep. Even so, he found that he just wanted to make her feel better...

Neji stood up and offered her his hand to pull her up.

[jose12323]

"T-thank you" Hinata said shuttering a little and smiling warmly,a true smile.
She took his hand,as he actually helped her to get up.

"ummm...." Hinata murmured,as she stood in the middle of the training place of the compound.
"You can start if...you want?...i mean witht he training?" Hinata said,as she looked at Neji.