Caged Birds Lullaby

chapter 12

Why was he acting like that? He really needed to stop it, he was scaring her. She shivered when he touched her! And the fear in her eyes…she was afraid of him.

That fact felt like a stab in his chest.

Dammit!

What had made him do it? He only knew that his mind had gone black when he saw her, venerable, so beautiful with her blonde locks cascading down her back. He had noticed she had cried. There were stains on her face. Not the right place for them. And he had decided it was up to him to correct that mistake. He knew he was just making up reasons. In reality..he wanted to touch her, to feel her warm skin, to caress those whisker marks..

He wanted that. And it scared him. What was she doing to him?

He remembered how silky and fluffy her hair felt under his touch. It smelled of wet grass and raspberries. He wanted to bury his nose in it and never let go.

And it frustrated him. Neji never felt like this before meeting her. Why..did she effect him like that!

In a way, he was glad she didn't notice those things and disregarded them. Winner of all Konoha Best Kept Hair..or was it?

He snorted, pushing the food into his mouth. The occupants of the room eyed him strangely.

It also angered him. Part of him wanted her to realize…wait, realize WHAT? He himself didn't know.

He groaned, rubbing his chin with the chopsticks and looked down at his chest, specifically, where the heart was.

A little more and it would jump out of his chest.

He glared at it.

Stop acting like that will you!

"Neji, who are you talking to?"

His eyes snapped to reality. Currently, he was dining with Hiashi-sama, Hinata and Hanabi. This was a small celebration on Hinata's graduation and passing the test set by her jounin sensei.

The head of the main branch was drinking from his bowl, eyes closed, still waiting for an answer.

Neji's eyes widened. He had said that out loud.

Damn you Uzumaki Naruto!

"Nothing uncle, just thinking of some things," he replied vaguely, willing Hiashi to buy it. The man eyed him for a second, then seemingly deeming the answer appropriate, nodded.

Neji knew one day he was going to be interrogated. He was just glad his uncle didn't bring it up now, especially in front of his cousins.

"Nee-san, tell me about your test! And your teammates too…plus yesterday you came late and.." chirped Hanabi, only to be interrupted by a small glare from her father.

"Gomenasai.."

Hinata sneaked a peak at her chichue, and seeing him in a good mood, decided it was ok to tell. An encouraging nod from Neji helped as well.

"W-well..", she poked her pointer fingers together ," Kurenai sensei hid in a g-genjutsu, and we had to find her. F-from the very start, Shino-san had suggested working together, a-and me and Kiba-kun agreed"

Nejo noticed her blush pink when mentioning the name of the Inuzuka.

She likes him?

It was ironic he didn't realize that Naruto was acting the same way around him as Hinata around Kiba.

He altogether forgot that he himself acted like that too.

"So you guys found her? I remember that Konohamaru idiot telling us about your sensei. Isn't she a super cool genjutsu mistress?" whispered the young girl, staring at her big sister and occasionally eyeing her strict father.