Sway

Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Note: I have recieved my schedule fot the rest of the month, and things are going to be a little rough. So, this chapter is being posted early, and will be the last I post, until I stop working six days in a row. That should be sometime next month. Sorry guys. I hope to sleep on my single days between blocks. If I can, I'll try and get some rewrites done. But I'm not releasing any of the twenties until I'm satisfied with them.

There were still days he was haunted by the memories. As if merely entertaining the pleasantness of some dream. A lover’s soft caress. Warm, passionate moans. The curving swell of womb stretched over unborn child. And the soft upset hiccups of a little one. His little one.

It was hard to believe they’d managed to get away with it. Through the interrogations, the trials, the examination that looked not for lineage, but something of an entirely different nature. After surviving the process and all the levels of pain it brought, it seemed almost surreal.

With every moment they were successful, they were able to breathe easier. With each passing day, they could lower their guard just slightly. And while there would be plenty of time to celebrate their victory over the village, more trials lay in their future than they could have ever foreseen.

Looking back, Neji realized it all stemmed from the same place. The desire to protect their child became so strong it overpowered their lives. Unlike most parents, whom need only worry over the fundamentals of their child’s well being, Neji and Naruto had to defend their child’s very right to exist. And in hiding who Takashi truly was, the majority of that responsibility landed squarely upon the blonde’s shoulders.

Falling back into routine hadn’t been difficult, once they developed a system. Both, being high ranked shinobi, and Naruto’s worldly renown on a constant rise, Takashi was raised by both of his parents in an odd, but comfortable time-share. While Naruto was away on missions, Neji – as Takashi’s legal guardian – cared for him from within the confines of the Hyuuga clan.

For the time Takashi was with him, Neji made sure to enforce distance between the clan and his son. Too much time with his clan, and they would recognize the infant as kin. The only member of his family Neji would allow near whilst Takashi was in his care was Hinata-sama. As a friend to Naruto, she was devoted to the child. As one who cared deeply for the blonde, she was protective. As a woman, she was nurturing. And as a person, she was kind.

In time, Takashi became as accustomed to Hinata-sama as his own parents. And though he could see Hinata-sama was aware of his reactions to the baby as more possessive than fundamentally protective, they never spoke of it.

While he was away on missions, Takashi lived with Naruto. And on the occasion that both were away on missions, Sakura would take temporary custody. As successor to Tsunade-sama’s medical knowledge, Sakura was rarely sent upon missions. When she was, they would be long, training missions. Or missions where her presence was desperately required.

In the odd occurrence that none of Takashi’s guardians were in the village, the infant would be left in the Hokage’s care. Often remaining in her office, staring up at the ceiling, and privy to the village’s every secret. While she enjoyed keeping the child close to her, and fondly addressed him as her ‘grandson’, she was still the Hokage, and had to prioritize the village above him. Which meant Takashi had a legion of babysitters.

In his first year of life, they truly learned the meaning to the old adage ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

Though shinobi children were raised together later in life, their early years were mostly dedicated to development within their clan. Without a clan to properly claim him – Neji would die before he ever let the Hyuuga attempt such an action – Takashi was raised in a pseudo clan, composed of those closest to Naruto. Uzumaki Takashi, as the first child born unto their generation very quickly became child to every one of them.

With his father away and his godparents on missions, and when the Hokage could simply not keep him around, Takashi floated amongst the remaining kindred eleven, Sai, or at times, even some of the sensei. He could as easily be found in a bassinet beside the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop, as propped upon a teacher’s desk at the Academy. He would be playing as happily with the pups of the Inuzuka as the winged servants of the Aburame. Found eating to his little heart’s content at the table of the Akimichi or settled beside a shogi board in the garden of the Nara. He traveled through the village in the swift laps of Rock Lee, or the laid back pace of Hatake Kakashi.

No one dared leave him with Gai.

Even the enthusiastic shinobi’s most beloved student recognized his sensei had very little by way of a gentle touch. Though he swore Gai would be a wonderful paver of Takashi’s shinobi life, he agreed it was best they interacted well after the child was mostly in control of his bodily functions.

So it was, the village quickly warmed up to Uzumaki Takashi. Where, in the beginning, Neji could hear them whispering derogatory comments, and hissing curses through clenched teeth. The fact that the child was so well loved and cared for – and subsequently accepted by – some of Konoha’s finest eased whatever worries they had. Until, far sooner than Naruto had expected – and a year or so shorter than Neji had anticipated – he was as safe within the village as the one in which he had been born.

Safer, perhaps, given the number of shinobi falling to him daily.

Though mostly Hyuuga in nature – and thereby quiet and reserved – Takashi had – thankfully – inherited his Otoosan’s ability to draw others too him. His remarkable charm seemed almost spell-like in efficiency, given his youthful innocence.

And in accepting Takashi, the villagers were beginning to bend. Occasionally, Neji would witness his lover’s surprise when a villager acknowledged him with a welcome nod. Or called a decidedly non-hostile greeting. Initially, as they came around to accepting the blonde, Naruto had been wary, and constantly on guard. It was only through prolonged exposure that he became gradually accustomed to the change in public attitude toward his person.

Neji was almost certain the change was also mostly do to the rumors that had drifted to him. A rumor that the bane of the village’s existence appeared to have vanished. They were no longer under constant threat. That the dark shadow that engulfed their lives had lifted. The domineering monster they all seemed to fear had been slain. All the allusions only caused greater confusion to the Hyuuga. While all the rumors were in agreement, none were clear enough to state just what kind of threat Naruto had been to them. Or, whatever legacy Naruto had inherited.

Though a year had passed swiftly by, Neji was no closer to discerning his lover’s well guarded past. He still did not know the clan from which he hailed. Whether they had been based in Konoha or came to bind themselves to it. He did not know if they had been as powerful and feared as he’d come to believe. Or if their extinction had occurred from within, or was due to an outside source. He could not even confirm whether Uzumaki Naruto was in fact his lover’s birth name.

While frustrating, Neji wasn’t yet certain if it was for the best. Surely by now, if Naruto’s clan had not been the enemy, he would have discovered something about them. Had they betrayed Konoha so severely, there had to be evidence that was not yet found. Because there was simply nothing, Neji could only be certain of one thing. Whomever Naruto’s clan had been, they were highly ranked. A Hokage did not go through all the trouble the Sandaime must surely have experienced to erase a nobody from history.

Neji was aware his search had long since shifted from a desire to know more about his lover, to an attempt to understand his lover’s painful past. He needed to know why it had taken the village so many years to forgive an innocent child. He needed to know what grudge they held against the blonde. If he could just figure it out, he was sure he could do something about it. After all, Naruto’s past was Takashi’s past. Naruto’s clan, Takashi’s as well. Along with whatever sins they’d committed, crimes they’d partaken in, and people they’d caused suffering to. Neji would not allow them to ruin Takashi’s future as they had ruined Naruto’s. He would ensure all the clan’s past misdeeds were rectified. Only then could his lover and child live in peace. Free from the heavy burden they’d unjustly inherited.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


The first assessment of Takashi’s growth was more nerve wracking then Neji had initially anticipated. As Takashi’s Godparents, he and Sakura were allowed to be present, and sit with Naruto during the examination.

The swift flash of kunai was hard to ignore. It took every last shred of patience and training he possessed to keep from rescuing his only son. Takashi merely blinked as it whizzed unimpaired past his head. Unmoving as it fluttered the soft hair by his ear. Unconcerned as the wind left in the wake of it’s passing brushed his cheek.

Whatever the council had been expecting had not occurred. While surprised the one-year-old had not cried; they were equally unnerved by his apparent focus. Though still an infant, Takashi regarded his environment with sharp, penetrating eyes. Eyes that held a thirst for information that sparkled deep in their reflective illusionary depths. Often, Neji would look at him and wonder just what an expression or reaction would look like with the child’s true gaze. And though Naruto had taught him the hand signs that would unseal the child’s bloodline limit, Neji had sworn to himself to only resort to it’s use in a life or death situation. Even if the pain of never truly knowing his son’s reactions felt like dying, his emotions were simply not a legitimate excuse to put him at risk.

Odd indeed where the tests Takashi was put through.

After the kunai, the council had a series of objects lain out before him. They waited patiently for Takashi to reach for one, but the child simply ignored them all. As they attempted to encourage him to move, Takashi simply sat. Back straight and eyes focussed sharply upon the group which sat before him. Not once did he glance at the objects, nor look away. With his stubborn refusal to participate, they moved unto the next test.

The third test involved a reading of texts and a gauging of Takashi’s reactions to them. Though he would cock his head to one side or another every so often, Takashi seemed relatively unfazed by whatever was being read to him. Neji recognized some as chants or prayers used to ward off evil spirits. The elders used every last expulsion spell available to them, but whatever they were hoping to evict did not even show a flicker of acknowledgement. Rather disturbed by their actions, treating his son as a possessed child, Neji covertly looked beside him and found both Naruto and Sakura growing rather frustrated. Neither seemed quite ready to act upon it – they were told any interference would find them barred from the hall – though both were significantly flexing whitening fists.

When the spells proved unresponsive, the elders had Takashi subjected to spiritual perusal. The monks surrounding the lone child as if preparing to ward off a disaster of world ending proportions. They approached him carefully, and settled in a circle around him. Neji shifted slightly when they released their chakra, doming Takashi in.

His son however, simply looked up, and did not even blink as it closed over him. He watched unperturbed as they sealed him within. Cool blue eyes observing the shape of the dome fluctuate as it was released from the shield of the monks bodies, resettling as if a separate entity. Slowly the dome began to shrink. Takashi gave a bored sigh and looked away.

Beside him, Naruto was clenching his fist within the fabric at the knee of his trousers. His grip so fierce, it was tearing the fabric, small rivulets of blood flowing from between his fingers. Neji wanted to reach over and take his hand. To show him he was not alone. And in looking up at his lover’s face, to perhaps give a look of support should Naruto catch his glance, he was surprised to find his lover’s encompassing blue eyes bleed into a fierce red.

As the dome closed tighter about their child, Neji watched the changes occur within his lover. His pupils dilated, reforming into unforgiving slits. His head lowered, gaze sharpening from under tightly drawn eyelids. As his breathing hastened, his lip began to curl into a snarl, bearing sharp canines. The lines upon his cheeks grew dark, widening as if alive.

Neji could feel all the hairs upon his body raise in alertness, as his lover issued a low, rumbling growl from deep in his chest. Sakura – on Naruto’s other side – reached out a calming hand, glowing a faint green with chakra. She settled it quietly above the blonde’s forearm, and leveled gazes with him, when his piercing eyes snapped to focus on her.

Reaching out with her other hand, she carefully settled both hands to his arm, letting the chakra speak in lieu of words. Naruto snarled faintly at her, but she didn’t relinquish contact.

Because Naruto’s reaction was starting to gain the attention of the elders, Neji settled a good deal of chakra in his palm, and covertly settled it low upon his lover’s back, bleeding his own into the blonde’s spine. He could feel it surging upward, sharply clearing his lover’s threatened system. Almost as if, the burning, heated surge of red trusted his judgement. Receding with an almost trembling desire as his chakra pooled coolly in his lover’s head. Sharply twisting and coiling through the overheated pathways.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it shakily. When he looked up again, it was with his usual blue, a tiny grateful curve to the corner of his mouth. Because he could not take Neji’s hand as his eyes indicated he longed to, he instead turned to Sakura and flashed her a reassuring smile, before looping their arms and leaning into her for support.

Sakura smiled warmly and reached out to brush back his hair. Affectionately patting the side of his head.

Neji’s eyes returned to his son, as the elders stood slowly, leaning over their judgement desk. They were looking over the monks, into the dome at Takashi. Neji stood, and activated his byakugan as the chakra conformed to Takashi in a suffocating hold.

At first, nothing happened.

Takashi sat and looked about, as though he could not feel them. Or rather, that he chose not to acknowledge having felt them. As they pressed closer however, Neji could see the warm little flicker of red chakra in his son’s core flare as if in alarm or anger, and recoil tightly. It coiled tighter and tighter, until his own blue surged unbalanced around it.

Takashi squirmed in discomfort.

The blue rippled in aggravation. The pulses all off in his little form. His chakra swayed dangerously, tipping outward and shifting free of his chakra coils.

“Stop,” he said, voice hard.

The elders looked to him. Noticing his activated byakugan, one of them asked, “What do you see, Hyuuga-san?”

“If you don’t stop immediately,” Neji replied, trying to keep the urgency clear, but the panic covered. “You’ll destroy his chakra system. You’re going to injure him.”

He curled his fists about the guardrail, as his words went unheeded by the monks. Takashi swayed, chakra bubbling rapidly toward his skin. Neji felt his heart beat once painfully, as if in preparation before one of the elders ordered them to stop.

As the only Hyuuga in the room, they had to trust his assessment, and in a flash, the molded chakra dispersed. As he felt the wood buckle under his grip, Neji saw the red chakra rush out of his son’s core, surging with a sense of urgency. It spread through his system lightening quick, as the baby coughed hard. And for the first time since he’d been born, Takashi cried.

Unaware that he had moved, Neji drew Takashi close to his body, byakugan laced eyes flashing dangerously at the council. Takashi squirmed in his arms, and cried in desperate little heaves. Small body trembling, and hot to the touch.

Neji was actually startled as Naruto lay a hand to his arm. Looking down, he was forced into realizing his actions. With a heavy heart, he relinquished Takashi, watching his lover draw their harmed child close. His jaw drew tightly, as the thought registered. They’d hurt his child. These people before him had hurt his child, and he was expected to do nothing.

Thankfully, Sakura saw no reason to keep quiet about what she’d witnessed. And with more rage and focus than he’d ever allowed himself to believe she possessed, proceeded to shout obscenities at them.

Naruto said nothing, holding Takashi close.

Neji could feel his nails drawing blood. More than anything, he wanted to kill them all. Each and every one of them deserving of a long, torturous death in his eyes. He could picture it with such clarity – the actions he would take, the reactions to his attack, the satisfying weight of their blood on his hands – that for a moment, he was certain he had actually done it. And then Sakura was ripping their desk in half and shoving Naruto in front of her, as she stomped toward the door. Neji followed without thought.

“Uzumaki.”

All three turned. Neji and Sakura stopping mainly because the blonde had heeded the call, despite all that had transpired.

A bag was lain upon the floor, and they watched as from it, crawled a young fox. Neji, unsure as to the meaning, took no immediate offense. Beside him both of his companions stiffened. Naruto took a step back, bumping ungracefully into the kunoichi before him. He clutched Takashi closer, as the fox shook it’s fur out.

And then the small animal looked about, as if assessing it’s new environment. Neji watched it look over the panel, then over at the monks. It’s hackles raised and it hissed threateningly, darting sideways and disappearing under a table.

Neji was aware of Naruto’s sharp inhale, as it reappeared on the other side of the booth they had previously been occupying. It stopped, suddenly turning sharply in their direction. It’s long tail swished from side to side. It took another few steps forward, moving slowly, before settling by the chair Neji had been sitting in. It looked at them, and Neji could almost see the same sharp, reflective gaze his son possessed mirrored in it’s small form.

A moment passed, and then the animal dropped into what was unmistakably a bow.

Naruto pulled Takashi close and Neji could feel the vibrations of his well hidden trembling. Takashi turned in his arms, and blinked at the furry creature. It lay it’s head to the ground, before dropping the rest of it’s body. It rolled once, revealing a soft belly, before coming back unto it’s feet, and leaping about in an oddly beautiful sort of dance.

It stopped, turning a few circles in one direction and a few in another, before settling back on it’s haunches and kicking up it’s forelegs, much like a dog taught to beg. Ears twitched as Naruto settled his weight, and it sat back, head cocking to one side, as his lover straightened.

Feeling Naruto growing angry beside him, he watched the little fox’s ears lay flat, before it crouched low unto the ground and lay motionless, as if dead.

“YA!” shrieked Takashi suddenly, pointing at it.

Everyone startled by his reaction, looked to him, missing entirely the way the fox sat up, perking happily. It’s tail swayed back and forth, and it may have been the wagging motion, but Neji could have sworn for a moment, there were two.

“Eee!”

He clapped his little hands, as if greatly amused.

The council members exhaled heavy sighs, some going so far as to slump in a sort of exhaustion against the remains of their desk.

“Allmo fa sala!”

Sakura smiled as Takashi tugged at Naruto’s shirt, pointing emphatically. Reaching out, she caressed his head. “Yes, what a silly little thing. You think it’s one of Kiba’ s puppies, don’t you, sweetie?”

“Sala sa!”

“No, Taka-chan. That’s not a puppy.”

Takashi quirked his head and rambled a, “Mooloo soka?”

Sakura laughed and ruffled his hair.

“We’ll go see them now. Okay?”

Takashi flashed a prized Uzumaki smile, and clapped his hands, bouncing happily.

Sakura turned to the council. Though she had not asked permission to leave before, she seemed to be willing to be polite now.

“You may go,” they were told.

As they left, the fox trailing close behind, upon Naruto’s heels, Takashi reaching out for it in sheer delight, Neji distinctly heard one elder say to another, “There’s no further point to it. The child’s no youkai.”

“Indeed,” said another.

“At least we’re certain now.”


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Now that he had a lead, Neji began researching clans who had regular interaction with demons. Surprisingly, there were quite a few. What complicated the process was that almost all of the clans were extinct. Naruto could be from any of them. Or worse, from none at all.

Had the Sandaime truly wanted what sounded to be a dark, dangerous clan sealed and erased from existence, Neji had to admit, there would likely be no trace left to follow. Yet, he couldn’t just leave things as they were. For he now knew the council knew his lover’s past. Seemed well acquainted with the workings of his clan’s development. Takashi was still at risk. And as they’d not yet been informed otherwise, there was still next year’s assessment to consider.

A knock on the door alerted him to just how late it had gotten. In the three weeks since the review, he’d taken to researching every free moment he had. As it consumed him, he often forgot to eat and sleep. Hinata-sama had taken to bringing him meals. She would always smile supportively, still rather shy and guarded around him. He couldn’t blame her. While they both had grown, and their relationship eased, there was still that one transgression that hung between them. Neji had never formally apologized for trying to kill her during the Chunin Exams. Hinata-sama had never formally forgiven him.

It hung over them like a cloud, and though they’d grown accustomed to one another, comfortable even – in their own way – it still proved to be a block in their reconciling the past.

Accustomed now to her interruptions, he looked up, prepared to great her warmly. His face fell as he saw who followed the tray into the room.

Swallowing reflexively, Neji felt his body stiffen under his Uncle’s gaze.

Though the elder Hyuuga had both formally forgiven him for his battle with Hinata-sama and apologized for the loss of his father - going so far as to train his basic understanding of his Hyuuga gifts, honing them into a sharpness known only among main branch members - Neji was still often wary of his Uncle, simply because he could never quite ascertain the man’s motives.

“Good evening, Neji.”

Neji stood to bow, and replied, “Good evening, Uncle.”

“I would like a word with you.”

Though as a branch family member he couldn’t contest the meeting, Neji was eased somewhat by the consideration of phrasing it more like a request. “Of course, Uncle.”

Hyuuga Hiashi sat and gestured that Neji follow his lead. So the younger Hyuuga settled across from him.

“I must confess, Neji, of all of your peers, I never believed Uzumaki Naruto would be the first of you to father a child.”

Neji eased the urge to swallow and refused to squirm. “You would not be the first, Uncle,” he replied, careful to keep his voice level.

“Ah, this is so.” He nodded, and lay his arm across the table. The elegant material of his sleeve flowing like a young waterfall over the piles of scrolls and off the end of the wood. “It gives one rise to consider the options for the rest of you.”

“Sir?”

“Is there someone you love, Neji?”

Surprised, Neji simply blinked.

His uncle nodded as if he had answered him. “Neji, you are a Hyuuga. And as such, you are required to honor your family first, and your heart second.”

Neji nodded, sagely.

“I will not ask, for it is none of my business to whom you give your heart. It is, however, my responsibility to see you well paired. Ours is a vastly coveted bloodline, Neji. It is our duty to keep it safeguarded, and pure.”

“Pure?” Neji echoed, feeling the dread start to swirl in the depths of his stomach and rise upward in sickly patterns.

His uncle reached out and smoothed the tips of his fingers across Neji’s bare forehead, brow furrowing slightly as his skin made contact with the curse seal. “I never should have marked you,” he commented, fingers sliding into soft hair. “You could have easily been my child, as much as you were Hizashi’s.”

Neji swallowed, confused and disturbed by the comment.

“Never before has a branch member so surpassed the Head of his family.”

The younger Hyuuga felt the bottom of his stomach drop out.

“Sometimes in our arrogance, we forget important things. Close your eyes.”

Heart pounding in his chest, Neji obediently closed his eyes. A million and one thoughts raced through his mind. The primary concerns were that he was about to die for being born so gifted, and that he had not yet told Lee his secret so he could protect his family in his stead.

He would never see his son grow up. He would never hold Naruto in his arms again. He had only told him he loved him once, and the number paled in comparison to the many times he had felt it. He would never discover the truth behind the blonde’s exile. Nor whether he had family yet alive. He would never see him become Hokage – for he so believed in the blonde’s ability.

His son’s potential would be lost to him. Would he be tall? Would he look as much a Hyuuga in his adulthood as he did in infancy? Would they ever discover the truth? Would Takashi surpass them all?

As he felt the warmth turn into a burn, stretching along the delicate pattern he’d bore since the age of four, sinking past his defenses and surging against his chakra…Forcing it’s way through his body and setting his every cell in an agonizing blaze of white hot, liquid fire. All he could think…was yes. Yes he would.