1Fate - 749

The memory was an old one, torn at the edges and overexposed in his mind. He thought it had the same twisted omnipotency one found when first experiencing the Byakugan, a God like event that left its user hurling for an hour afterwards. Both traumatic and liberating at the same time.

"Close your eyes, Neji-nii." Her soft voice had been disarming (something that hadn't changed). He'd done as she'd asked, no fear, no hate, only a sweet kind of anticipation that had been all the more painful for its let down.

Hinata had led, and Neji had followed. Thinking back on it now, he discovered the bitter irony of such a statement, as he'd always found himself one pace behind (though he liked to think of himself as one ahead).

She'd pulled him with soft steps, through the sliding shoji doors, and he'd wondered over the surprise, attempting to peak through slightly parted fingers. Hinata, always the little mother, had admonished him in that clever way girls do when they know you're being bad - and he chuckled in the remembering.

Then bright light and a whisper of air had leaked through the skin of his fingers.

"Okay. Open them."

A menagerie. It was a menagerie Hinata had received for her sixth birthday.

Neji didn't recall much after that, the pictures diluted and decayed with his desire to forget them, but he did know he'd gone back there in the night.

He'd freed all the brown ones, the blue ones and the gold - each of them, except for one.

A small and pale love bird, who just wouldn't fly from his cage. It was the first and last time he'd cried, as not even the death of his mother had stolen tears from his face.

Neji remembered, as he paced the squeaky tiles of the maternity ward, how he'd cried over the inevitability of his fate.

"Ah, are you Mr. Hyuuga?" Neji twitched a little at the proper suffix, finding himself quelling the urge to look around for his uncle. He'd always think of the old bastard as 'Mr' or 'Sir' and it was a surprise when people used it in reference to himself.

The medic was young, hardly more years than his little cousin Hanabi (but then she wasn't so little anymore). She wore a pink pair of scrubs, which he figured was in the hopes of inspiring cheer, but all Neji found was the need to blink his eyes at the brightness. It certainly didn't help with the headache he'd been nursing for the past several hours.

"She's sleeping now. Congratulations, it's a boy!" The woman smiled at him and he (strangely enough) found himself returning the gesture, reeling in the flood of emotions that overcame him at her words.

Hinata. A boy. Neji wanted to shake the pink wearing medic nin, he wanted to rub it in his uncle's face, he wanted to run to Hinata's side and kiss her lips and tell her how wonderfully, perfectly strong she was.

He wanted all that and more.

It was only due to years of unquestionable self-restraint that kept him from doing none of those things, and patiently following the girl to his wife's room.

He found her sleeping, pretty blue hair sweaty and stuck to her forehead, the side of her face, and Neji decided he'd never seen anything more beautiful. His wife was so beautiful.

"Here you are then, the newest member of your clan." The medic whispered, returning with a baby bundled up in blue flannel wraps. He figured if he were a younger man, perhaps he would've hesitated in the complete acceptance of his fate, (despite his crap on it being unstoppable, Neji had always second guessed himself at times) but at the sight of dark hair and a pink little face he'd only waited for the woman to place him in his arms.

Ten fingers, ten toes, he thought, and didn't even concern himself over the lack of his usual biting self-rapport. Sarcasm had faded within point-zero, zero, one seconds at the shift of a tiny hand. He wondered if babies always had such an effect.

Neji moved over to the side of Hinata's bed, small smile hovering over his lips, as he brushed a couple strands of hair from her face.

He thought it was funny how things came full circle. Here he was, Neji Hyuuga, crying for the second time in his life and over the exact same thing (well, the exact same thing, minus one).

The inevitability of his fate was no longer so bitter.

A/N - Sighs! You do not know how long I struggled with that last line. It was really hard to word! I still don't think its good enough, but ah well! Yeah, that awesome pink medic nin was so me! Hee hee. Anyway, this is the point where you guys click that little purple button and go 'Whaaaa that was sooo cute!' Well, at least I hope you will. Please critique and all that good stuff. I'm gonna go cry now, 'cause that was so emotional! Baby Hyuugas! Dies! (PS - I also got the feeling I could've stretched it out longer, but I thought the integrity would've been impaired. You know, purity and enclosed spaces, and all that jazz..)