Chapter Text
Hizashi took Neji to meet his cousin for the first time when he was four. They stood on the opposite sides in a family courtyard of an older Japanese traditional manor that had been in the family for a long time. He and Hiashi, his twin that he hadn’t been able to see for so long since he was working overseas, shared happy smiles. He smiled at Hinata’s small form dressed in a pretty white yukata and she barely glanced at him before dropping her eyes to the ground and sliding to hide behind her father’s kimono.
Hizashi chuckled and placed a hand on Neji’s small shoulder to encourage the boy. For some reason, ever since he had told his son that he would be meeting his cousin who he had never seen before, Neji had not allowed him to tell him her name. The boy had become extremely nervous for reasons unknown to anyone and had specific requirements that he had wanted fulfilled: like wearing a fine quality kimono, geta sandals that Hizashi and Miako couldn’t walk in at all while their tiny son ran ahead like the wind, demanding a trim and thorough brushing of his hair, a few brief questions demanded about the cousin’s age and family, and then the ban of speaking of the subject after. He had stood solemn, like a miniature adult earlier that morning, staring at the mirror in his black child kimono with a seriousness they hadn’t understood.
But now was the fated meeting and, Hizashi thought wryly, if he could get his son out from trembling behind him it would pass by a lot better. The two cousins were very similar in their behavior at this moment; no one could doubt their relation. He gently squeezed the small shoulder and stepped off to the side. He didn’t understand the faint shaking of his son’s body at all. Neji had never been this shy or nervous about meeting anyone. He was not afraid of strangers nor was he reclusive. Which made this behavior all the more particular. He shared a confused look with his wife about their son and gently placed a hand on the back of his child's shoulder blades to push him forward.
“Hiashi.” He greeted his brother. “This is my son, Neji.”
He watched the tiny head of blue tinted hair half hidden by Hiashi’s leg snap up in the sunlight. Her eyes were wide and filled with emotions he couldn’t understand.
“Hizashi, it’s been a while.” Hiashi replied smiling warmly. “This is my daughter, Hinata.”
He tilted his head to look at his son to see him with equally stunned eyes, before the tiny shoulders were pushed back proudly and body stood straight. The shocked expression was wiped away and his son’s face became bland, but the lightest pair of gray eyes ever seen, so pale he had not thought possible until his son had open his eyelids that day of his birth, were warm and swirling with emotion.
The boy took one, two steady steps and suddenly he was in front of the little girl. Hinata stared with her own pair of, Hizashi was startled to see, strikingly impossible pale eyes that tinged just the barest gray, her expression calm and gentle. His son stood stiffly in front of the girl, almost like a tiny soldier at attention, gazes locked together and they watched as he swallowed once, twice, and another time before speaking.
“Hinata-sama.” The little boy breathed out rigidly, like the words had been choking him.
Hiashi and Hizashi both jerked up a brow in question at the address while their wives and other family members blinked. Some brought a hand up to cover the amused smiles spreading on their faces.
Hinata did not look away from his son at all, her small gaze wandering across his face, settling for a lingering moment on the skin of his forehead before reaching out one tiny hand to take a stiff one of Neji’s.
“Neji-niisan.” She whispered and the light from her eyes as she peered up at his son from beneath her lashes seemed almost blinding.
The adults waited but no more words were exchanged, it seemed as if the two children were in a world all of their own. No sound or movement came from the two, if not for the locked eyes and their soft breathing, they might have been assumed to be very elaborate life-like figurines. But that was not possible, not with the intensity surrounding them.
The two children were not doing anything, yet everyone in the vicinity was captivated, even while the figures of interest were seemingly unaware.
This meeting was the first indication that Hizashi had that his son and niece were something special.
. : from this life to the next: .