Hiashi finally exhaled. What could have been a smile was touching his lips. "Maybe…maybe seeing how Hinata's comrades work so hard to protect her, maybe I thought I should respect that, yes?"
Neji, Shino, even Kurenai, were staring at him…dumbfounded.
Hiashi turned his back. "Ah, Naruto Uzumaki is not even Hokage yet, and already he changes us all."
"Naruto?" Kurenai said wonderingly.
"Despite the Byakugan, we can be blind. I know my nephew's bitterness and my daughter's humiliation. That he should be so talented and relegated to the branch that will forever be servile; that she should carry all the hopes and expectations of the clan and feel always inadequate to the task…The tradition of the Hyuuga is as good as a cage. But do all of you really think I had not wished to change the cage? I did not wish my brother dead, but he died so he could be free," Hiashi said quietly.
Even the crickets sang no more. Hinata's father looked up at the stars. "Both nephew and daughter seemed to change before my eyes…Neji, in his fight with Uzumaki-san, and Hinata, in every time she laid eyes on Uzumaki-san." Hiashi did smile this time. "A child managed to do what I could not. Make Neji forgive me and Hinata stronger." He looked at all of them expectantly. "He works so hard, does he not? Like all of you. Especially you, Neji."
Kurenai still seemed slightly stunned, but she nodded anyway. Shino, sensing the Hyuuga lord's mood, took his teacher's arm again, "Kurenai-sensei, there is a barbecue place that's still open this late. We'll get some barbecue and go to the hospital after."
Hiashi did not move from his place and so Neji stayed in his place, too. Soon both Kurenai and Aburame were out of sight.
Neji had never seen his uncle's eyes as this…
"Neji-kun."
It was not that Hiashi's eyes were harsher or sterner, "Yes, Hiashi-sama."
"I know that Hinata has become very important to you."
It was that there was pity stirring in them. "Yes, she has."
Hiashi paused. "It is not wrong to love," he said, "but it cannot be." His voice was almost gentle.
Neji said nothing, only looking down. They were quiet for a time again. The crickets had started to sing again, and in the distance, the wind was rising.
Neji cleared his throat, his eyes on the ground. "With your permission, I would still like to be her protector. I would still like to protect her 'till the day I go into death."
When his uncle did not speak, Neji looked up and saw that his uncle's eyes were bright and upon him. "I would be honored, Neji." Hiashi inclined his head gravely. "Let us return. We have to await her return, as well, and welcome her when dawn comes."
Neji nodded and stole a last glance at the moon. It looked far away. Then, he walked back to Konoha with his uncle. Dawn was about to come, but inside Neji's mind, the moon shone on and reflected itself a thousand times on the water.
Author's Note: I have said this to one of the reviewers and I would like to say it again to everyone: that in a place like this, there is a fascinating dynamic wherein when someone tells a story, the audience affect the storyteller. This is especially true for this story. If the tale has been any good, it is because all of you have helped me tell it. That is not bullshit. Your comments gave me ideas on what the story would be. Your comments are the reason this ever became a multi-chapter fiction at all. So, at the end of the tale, even as I have said it before, I will say it again, thank you.