Author's Note: Um, some of you guys might recognize this piece. I'd posted it up before under the name "Caged Memories", but then I deleted it off the site because I wasn't really happy with it…anyway. I haven't had time to write anything new, so I figure editing some of my old work will do for now. If you're currently in a happy mood, I don't recommend you reading this, though...
"Neji-niisan, will you play with me?"
Neji glanced at his five-year-old cousin solemnly, carefully considering the proposal before speaking. "No."
"W-why not, nii-san?" Hinata asked timidly.
"Because. I'd rather play alone. Besides," Neji added bitterly, "didn't you play with Uchiha-san yesterday? I wasn't invited then, and I would hate to 'infringe upon Hinata-sama's play date' with Sasu-sama, 'cuz 'the Hyuuga clan and the Uchiha clan have to strengthen their relations.' That's what your father said when he told me I couldn't join you."
"But Neji, what does that mean?"
"It means you're going to play with Sabuke-sama on the slides today instead of with me."
"…his name's Sasuke, niisan. He's very fun to play with, only he doesn't talk much, just like you. He says he has a nii-san too, only he calls him 'Aniki', and his mommy's still alive."
"Well, go play with your precious Sasuke and quit bothering me!"
"B-but Niisan, what's wrong?"
"I was waiting for you to come yesterday afternoon," Neji mumbled under his breath.
"Really? B-but Neji-niisan always says I'm hard to look after!"
"I didn't miss you or anything," Neji interrupted quickly. "I was waiting so we could go feed the bird you found!"
"You mean the little sparrow? I-I forgot about it! F-father told me not to worry about any of the stuff I was s'pposed to take care of and just enjoy myself with Sasuke-kun! D-did it get hungry?"
"…yes," Neji said, relishing the rather guilty look on his cousin's face.
"I fed it, though, so it's okay," he added after a moment, not wanting to make Hinata feel too bad.
"Thank you, Neji!"
"I'll probably have to feed it alone today again. You're such good friends with Satsuke."
"Mmhm. We're getting to be good friends. But don't worry about the birdie, Neji-niisan. I'll just explain to Sasuke-kun and he can come and feed it with me!"
Neji twitched. The Uchiha being entrusted with the caretaking of Hinata's special bird somehow made his six-year-old mind even angrier. "Fine, then. You two can do it by yourselves, Hinata-sama!"
With this childish comeback, the soon-to-be Hyuuga genius rushed off.
Hinata really couldn't understand it. Neji-niisan had gone missing for two whole days! Was he really that angry about her playing with Sasuke? Then there was only one thing to do.
"Otou-san, I don't want to play with Sasuke-kun anymore!"
Hiashi was displeased, naturally.As soon as Neji saw his father's face, he knew he was in Very Big Trouble, the kind of Trouble that was capitalized and in bold in a six-year-old mind.
"Neji! What have you done?"
"…n-nothing, I swear!"
"Hinata-sama is terribly upset. She refuses to attend her play date with the youngest Uchiha."
"W-what?"
"It seems she doesn't want to make 'Niisan' angry. Hiashi-sama is quite disgruntled. Neji…"
Neji braced himself for a lecture.
"…why are you so intent on hurting your younger cousin?"
"But I didn't-" Neji began.
"I know what you did not do, Neji. You didn't let Hinata feel happy about her new friend and you didn't let her explain herself."
"She doesn't care. She spent the entire day yesterday playing with Sasuke-sama!"
"And that gives you the right to avoid her for an entire week?"
"It's not as if she needs me anymore!"
"Neji. I think I understand your behavior. You're…jealous."
"Huh?"
"I'll disregard the fact that, thanks to her immature older cousin, a five-year-old girl is locked up in her room crying. I'll even disregard the fact that it's my niece I'm talking about. But listen to me, Neji: Hinata is the heir of the main house and you are from the branch house."
"I already know that!"
"But you don't understand it. You're being possessive of Hinata right now."
"What?"
"Neji, tell me this: do you think you own Hinata?"
"O-of course not! But you said that she's my charge. So…I…I should always be with her! But Uncle wouldn't let me go with her! A-and Hinata didn't mind…"
"So you do believe that Hinata belongs to you to an extent."
"She's my charge!"
"It's not the same thing. Neji-kun…Hinata will grow up. She'll have a life of her own, and she'll grow up to be a fine leader for the clan. Part of her growing up…is forming new friends and alliances. Uchiha Sasuke happens to be one of those alliances."
"I'm the one that was there when she caught the chicken pox! I fished her out when she fell into the pool!"
"You did those things because they were your duty, Neji. You shouldn't expect her to owe you. Being a branch house member…you can't attempt to possess a member of the main house, no matter how strongly you feel about them. Even Hinata…especially not Hinata."
"…yes, father."
"Neji!!!"
Neji stifled a blush as his overly-happy cousin rushed to hug him. So this was how overwhelming guilt felt like.
"I'm sorry for my behavior before, Hinata-sama," he said coldly, politely. He had practiced his apology dozens of times in order to be able to force it out.
"What? No, it's all my fault, Niisan! Please play with me and come with me to feed the sparrow. It doesn't wanna sing unless you're there too. A-and don't worry, I promise I won't ever play with Sasuke anymore."
"Go ahead and play with him. I don't mind, really," Neji murmured in his best branch-house-voice.
"You don't mind anymore, niisan?"
"It's in the best interests of the clan, after all," Neji explained, feeling very proud of himself as he even managed to force out a smile.
Hinata wrinkled her nose. That didn't sound like Neji at all! Still…
"Neji-niisan?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to ask Father if you can walk me over to Sasuke-kun's house from now on. It'd be funner to go there everyday if I got to see you more often."
"That's perfectly alright, Hinata-sama. I have some training to do anyway."
"Huh? But we're g-gonna visit the market today…a-and we can buy t-toys…f-for the sparrow, I mean…don't you want to?" Hinata asked anxiously.
"No," Neji said abruptly. "Besides, those toys won't belong to him anyway."
"But…e-everyone needs toys," Hinata said as firmly as she could with a bob of her five-year-old head.
"It can't own them," Neji insisted. "Because it's in a cage."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"A caged bird isn't fated to own anything. Not its cage, itself, not its toys, not the person that takes care of it and feeds it, not even its best friend!"
A caged bird isn't…fated…Neji liked the sound of that. Well, he didn't really like it, but it was true.
"I-I don't think that's true," Hinata objected weakly.
"I say it is," Neji said solemnly, looking up to see Hinata open and close her mouth, choosing not to argue with her older cousin this time.
"A-are you coming to p-play, then?" she asked.
"No. It isn't fated," Neji said, trying the new phrase out again, surprised at how easily it rolled out of his mouth. He might get used to it, maybe.
Author's Note: Err…even though I revised it, it still stayed depressing…I set out to write this to give an alternate explanation of why Neji's obsessed with fate early on in the series...I'm not sure I did that.
Um…anyway. Please review, since I'm not that comfortable with how it came out now, and I'm not too sure I got Neji's character down that well.