Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Neji was unaccustomed to futility. Hinata knew the sense of it better than her own name for almost two decades. She'd grown strong enough to continuously fight against failure and disappointment in a way that he had not. But like her, he knew the dangers of hope. He wasn't one to forlornly dream about unrealistic things that were too far out of his reach, and he only looked on at those foolish enough to try.

Hinata was one of them. She kicked and she grasped. Every waking moment was spent jumping, reaching, doing everything she possibly could until she touched the stars she saw twinkling like freedom in the distance. Neji had watched her struggle. For years, he did. And for years, he scoffed, even cursed her idiocy. What was the point when each time she'd get a little higher, she'd just come crashing back down half a second later and bruising her fragile emotions.

But as he grew older and wiser, he had ever so slowly decided to help her. To take matters into his own hands, so she wouldn't have to struggle so much with trying to stand there alone. Neji lifted her with his own two hands until she could pick at the flames in the sky and choose the future she wanted for herself; the future she wanted for them.

And that was why the day Hinata became leader of the clan was one of the proudest of his life.

He shared in not just what her rise to power entailed for the Hyuga, but also her joy. In the fact that the struggle was over and a newer, brighter one had just begun. It would be one they would undertake together. That he had helped her with the first was something that made his chest swell, as deep and immense as a call to the ocean, but that this new challenge would be one that he could start with her from the beginning, and not from the middle, made the blood in his veins rush with a ringing roar.

Neji was excited.

How long had it been since he'd felt that way about something regarding the clan?

Not since Hiashi-sama offered to teach me… or the day I took back my place as Hinata's guardian.

Neji looked up at the heavens above. It glittered wide and unobscured, and as breathtaking as it was, it could hardly compare to the sight of Hinata as she stepped out from the sliding doors that the clan matrons had been holding her hostage behind for the better part of the day. Shadows flickered sharp across his face, as the light from within waned. Neji closed his eyes when a bright, momentary flash of light blinded him.

An ornament, he realized. It had gems that looked like someone had plucked pieces from the sky.

His eyes trailed downward.

Hinata's skin had been scrubbed raw, he knew, though the redness didn't show. In fact, she had the barest coat of oil on her, which led him to believe that any type of pressure—even from her own clothes—must've hurt. Her hair fell over her shoulders like a gleaming sheet of ebony. The single ornament on the side was meant for decorative purposes, rather than to hold anything up.

She was swaddled in layers. All of them were black, white, or a pale silver that made his focus switch from area to area. The over coat on her shoulders was the most finely-crafted brocade he'd ever seen. It was darker than tar with patterned silver leaves all along its back. The cloth had been passed down for generations, and was physical evidence of not only the Hyuga clan's age, but also its wealth.

She wasn't wearing her platform shoes yet, he noted, which meant they had a bit of time before she had to begin her procession.

He would be beside her. Not as her guardian, but as her betrothed. Although she was significantly better dressed—which was only right, considering the title of head would belong officially to her even after they were married—he wasn't exempt from the cleansing scrub by the clan or the invasive scrutiny to make sure that he looked nothing less than regal. As much as it pained him to admit it, their engagement wasn't only a sign of love. It was a promise to all of their clansmen that she would keep her word and totally abolish the Branch House.

"You look," he paused, not wanting to give her a superficial compliment. When their eyes met, the word came, "Ready."

She smiled, then held up her arms to him.

"Neji," she called.

He obliged.

Neji grasped her much smaller hands, noting how they trembled. He squeezed them to assuage any and all of her worries, before bending down to place a kiss on the back of each. He whispered affection against them, and then, louder, a promise to be her ground and her anchor for the long and difficult years they had ahead.

"I will stand beside you, Hinata," he vowed. "Always."

Behind them, the sun broke red and glorious over the horizon.