Chapter Text
Looking at the clan elders, Hiashi leveled a stare at all of them.
“Though your idea shows some merit,” a voice droned on, grating on his nerves. “We still do not approve of the removal of the seal on the branch members of the Hyuuga Clan. We have already moved not to add more seals, by your order.” There was more, of course there was, but Hiashi barely listened to it. He had lived life selfishly. His brother had sacrificed himself so that Hiashi would live, and Hiashi had watched his son be imprisoned. He had watched Neji grow up, chained and bound, restricted by the laws of their family, for nothing more than tradition.
If they would not listen to him in that manner, perhaps it was time for the secondary plan.
It was one that had taken some sneaking around.
Some underhanded tactics.
Secret communications in the dead of night, when the guards of the compound were none the wiser to the head of the family slipping through the darkness to send off a messenger bird.
Hiashi lifted his chin once more, alert, when there was a moment of silence. “Then perhaps you will allow me to take care of my nephew — as promised to my brother, a condition of his sacrifice – by seeing to his marriage. Now that he is of an age to be married, of course, he has a few prospects as something useful to the clan,” He had their interest, he knew he did when they all stared. “Of the secondary branch as he is.”
“Of course,” one of the elders crooned, her mouth pursed. “We do have a list of potential brides, suitable for such a member of the family. An orphan, taken in by his uncle, born to the branch family, of course we know brides who would bring honor and status—”
“Oh, I already have someone chosen,” Hiashi smiled. He was tired.
He’d been shown the truth of his actions, the error of his judgment. He had been given a chance to stare acutely into the width and breadth of his past and know, deeply and achingly, that it had been the wrong path to take.
“You…What?”
Hiashi stared back at his father, aware that he was pushing back against him for the first time in his life. Hinata had made a promise, one that she had brought to him. One that he intended to keep. “I have chosen someone for my nephew to marry,” he simply repeated it. “The Kazekage has already accepted the proposal.” It was a move they could not argue with, though he knew they would try. The Kazekage would provide status and wealth that they could not use as a reason to dispute him as an option. If they attempted to leverage Neji in any way, it would potentially spark a war between the two villages – attacking the Kazekage’s husband would be a crime. Hiashi felt content in his decision.
If they attempted to activate the seal to bring Neji into compliance, it would be seen as the first volley of said potential war. By moving to marry his nephew to the Kazekage, Hiashi had managed to move him as a piece on a Shogi board – out of danger and into some form of safety.
He picked up his tea and sipped it, feeling a wash of calm come over him as the room erupted into yelling.
-X-
When Hinata had made that foolish promise to him, he had not been expecting much.
The gears of time moved slowly, and the laws of their family moved slower. Four years had passed with little to show for her promise other than a slowing and an eventual halt of new marks to second branch family members. That alone would have been enough for him, honestly – if no one else were cursed with what he had borne, he would have been relieved. If no more children wore the mark and had to carry the weight of it, Neji would have felt freedom enough to live out his life as her guard.
His uncle had come to him, a week ago, with a plot. A quiet plan, one that would anger the clan elders but that would move him out of harm’s way in the same stroke.
Once it had been explained to him and communication had been established, he had agreed.
Three days back, the Kazekage had agreed as well.
Neji sat in front of the small, temporary shrine in his room, his eyes closed, his hands folded in his lap. The belongings he was taking with him were stored in scrolls in the bag he kept in the corner. The room was almost as bare as it always was – he had never seen the need to personalize it, not when he was seen as so little to some members of the clan. Today was the day his soon-to-be husband was to arrive, to escort him to his new home.
Gaara and his siblings would come to the Hyuuga compound and take Neji with them once they left. There would be a meeting with the elders, he knew that, but he did not know if he would be present for it. He knew there would be a meeting with the Hokage.
He knew he would be married before the day was over.
Taking a deep breath, he lifted his chin and let his head roll back, keeping his eyes closed. When his uncle approached him with the idea, he had been surprised. Startled, confused, a little afraid.
Hinata had been the source of information, it seemed. Naruto had been sending letters on occasion, encouraging friendships between the two villages. Gaara had been writing to Tsunade-sama. When Hiashi had asked Hinata how she would make more changes to the family, she had asked Naruto for help, a letter sent out into the wild in the hopes that he would get it. Between all of them, a plot had hatched. Hiashi had, in desperation, asked Gaara for help. He had asked for a way to keep Neji safe from retaliation, in case one of the elders of the clan sought to get back at him for helping to see change come to their family.
Distance might not completely prevent the seal from being activated, but it would certainly not hurt.
So, it would be a new start.
A new life.
A new village.
With a start, Neji snapped to full alert before a knock on the door could do so for him. “Yes?” he called out, listening.
“You are being summoned,” a voice on the other side spoke softly. One of the other branch family members, a young woman named Suke. He stood and opened the door, grabbing his bag as he moved. The temporary shrine, his father’s name – it would be erased by nightfall. He knew it would be. As if he had never been in the room at all. Suke moved to the side to allow him to pass, and Neji bowed his head to her. They both knew his presence was not a pleasant request.
She walked several paces behind him until they came to the door of the room where the elders’ meeting was being held. He could hear his uncle, a calm voice in a storm.
He could sense three wells of chakra that were unfamiliar and out of place, frenzied storms of warmth and brightness.
With a knock of his own, Neji waited at the door.
-X-
Hiashi simply listened as the elders squabbled like angry children.
His father stared at him, his eyes furious, but there was nothing he could do. Hiashi did not fear him anymore. He had lost his brother, his brother’s wife, and he had all-but-lost his nephew if it had not been for the brave and careful actions of his daughter. Perhaps she was not what a Hyuuga heiress was supposed to be, but perhaps that was in fact what they needed – fresh air to blow the cobwebs from the corners. A deep and furious cleaning to bring the light back to their home.
Too much had been lost. Too many had been lost.
He would not see Hanabi grow up with the mindset he had grown up with. He would not see his eventual grandchildren gain that same mindset. Hiashi sipped his tea, glancing to the side at the Kazekage and his siblings – they had arrived not long after his announcement. The Kazekage himself had come without his formal robes but still wore a mark of his office on the sash across his torso. He seemed, despite the rank and all that implied, to be a nice young man.
Hiashi hoped he was.
There had been much said about him in the letter from the Uzumaki child. Much said about that boy from Hinata, as well, enough for Hiashi to trust his word on the Kazekage. Seventeen, a year younger than Neji, powerful and capable. His siblings at hand to help make certain everything remained safe and well-run in his village. With them out of the village, they had someone they trusted to step in and take command for a time.
A well-organized system.
Safe.
A place he could trust would protect Neji fiercely. A village, he had faith, that would be able to shelter him without stifling his ability to live.
It would be more than Hiashi had given him.
Gaara’s brother sipped his tea, his mouth pressed into a firm line after each swallow. His hands were curled tightly around his cup, as if to stop them shaking. Hiashi did not know what he might be feeling at the moment. Was it anger? Would he be inclined to mistreat Neji due to Hiashi’s decisions?
The sister was harder to get a read on. She was studying everyone in the room, silent, with narrowed eyes.
Hiashi offered them more tea.
All three of them nodded, holding their cups steady as he poured. He was their host; they were his guests. As a sign of respect, one he knew would anger his father, he poured for them before any other. When he turned to his own cup, Hiashi poured slowly and quietly, setting the teapot down gently before he joined the siblings in drinking. A show of good faith, he knew that it would remind them they were safe. One could never be too careful, especially as the leader of a village. If he drank with them, it would show their drink to be unaltered.
The door behind him opened after a quiet knock, Neji entering.
Hiashi hid his smirk in his cup as the elders were sent back into an uproarious frenzy. Like sharks scenting blood in the water.
It was too bad for them, he thought, that the papers had already been filed.
Only one more actor to arrive on the scene, and she was due at any moment.
As if given a cue from that thought, the words a signal, Tsunade-sama was led through the door, arriving moments behind Neji. “Alright,” she grinned, holding up a stack of papers and a book. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”
Hiashi met his father’s eyes, defiant at last.
-X-
The weight of the ring was a strange thing to carry.
Neji stared at it, trying to wrap his mind around how heavy it was for such a small thing. It gleamed on his finger, new metal – a single line of unbroken silver. “Your uncle told me that an etching was, perhaps, a poor idea,” Gaara explained as he slipped into a seated position next to Neji. “Any idea that might have come up would simply have looked too much like what we sought to free you from.”
Looking at his husband, Neji felt something shift in his chest, feeling jittery and warm. “Thank you for agreeing to this. You did not have to.”
“No, but a friend asked for help,” Gaara shrugged. “And I have so few of those that when such an occasion calls for it, I will do what I can. Besides, it is no burden to me,” he lifted a hand to Neji’s chin, tilting his head to look at his forehead. It wasn’t a hard movement, wasn’t a forceful press of motion – Neji could have easily slipped away if he’d wanted to. “And it solves a problem for you.”
The four of them had come to a stop for the night, resting somewhere between Konoha and Suna.
“I thought I was going to burst out laughing in that meeting room,” Kankurō groaned, settling across from them. “Every time I looked at your clan elders squabbling like brats, I had to just…Take another sip of tea.”
“So that’s what that was,” Temari rolled her eyes. “You looked like you might have burst a blood vessel.”
Neji felt a small smile forming on his lips as he looked at Gaara, who glanced at him with an apologetic look. The two of them quibbled back and forth for a while, reminding him of Tenten and Lee – a little homesick already – but in a good way. Neji sat at Gaara’s side as the two of them stayed quiet, watching the other two shake off the extra energy from being cooped up in the Hyuuga compound.
He could understand that.
Neji had spent eighteen years with that feeling. For the first time in his life, he felt free of the restrictions that came with living with his family. He had spent so long with the extra energy built up under his skin that it had become background noise, a blur in the world around him. Just one more thing he had to keep track of, something to be released when it got too big and the forest of death would gain one more bare patch that would eventually re-grow.
It was a small taste of freedom, so far, and it felt like ice on his tongue.
Like the first time he had seen snow outside of his village. Not muddy and full of footprints, but soft and light, falling delicately all around him.
They made it to Suna in good time, according to the siblings.
By the time they got there, Neji had switched to an outfit with less layers, his hair pinned up in a manner that protected his neck but kept the rest of him cooled. Kankurō had taken one look at his clothes, that morning, and had clapped a hand on his back with a cackle. “We’ll get you some local fabrics, should help you with the heat.”
“And some sun lotion,” Temari had scoffed, shooing her brother away. “You look like you’ll burn in minutes if you don’t have that on hand.”
Once they were within the Kazekage’s palace, Neji realized the temperature had dropped considerably. “There are layers to the walls,” Gaara explained as they walked. He put a hand on Neji’s back, gentle and simply there to guide him. “They are meant to keep it cooler in here for our comfort. Until you are registered as a shinobi of Suna, you may wish to spend time in our library. Or perhaps…Well,” Gaara looked away. “It is up to you.”
“I would enjoy seeing the library, yes,” Neji assured him.
Something about the way his husband’s eyes lit up, correct in his assumption, made him smile. “If there is anything you need, you only have to ask one of the aides,” Gaara gestured around the hall they walked through. “Their shifts end at various times, though you can always ask me if there is something you need as well.”
“Thank you.”
“If you cannot find an aide, or me, you can make Kankurō get you something,” Gaara’s voice twitched with something, a quiet bit of teasing. Neji remembered him from the Chuunin exams; he remembered a boy without emotions and a disconnect from his team – his siblings – and he wondered what had changed. The Kazekage in front of him now was fond of them, hinting at teasing his brother. A fond younger brother, talking about his older brother. He knew Naruto had become involved, a surefire way to change someone’s heart – such a thing had happened to Neji, as well.
It was fascinating, in a way. Neji smiled. “I will make sure to do so.”
Gaara stared at him for a long moment, his eyes wide, then took a deep breath. There was something there, something – Something. Neji studied him, glancing at the matching ring on his hand, then bowed his head. “Thank you for marrying me.”
“You do not need to bow to me,” Gaara reached up to lift his head. “Or anyone ever again.”
“It is about respect.”
“Respect is fine,” Gaara nodded. “Subservience is not.”
He put a hand to his chest, inclined his head, then stood up straight and stepped back from Neji. “If you need anything, my office is there,” he gestured. “My rooms are through there,” his hand moved, Neji’s eyes following. “My brother’s rooms, my sister’s rooms,” his hand kept moving. “Baki has a room within the palace as well and can be found at nearly all hours of the night, should you need to find him for any reason.”
Neji watched as Gaara turned again, pointing once more. “Your rooms are next to mine. My apologies if they are inadequate. They have not been used in some time, though they have been kept clean and updated.”
“What am I to do with my time, until I become registered?” Neji had to ask, had to know.
“What do you like to do?”
The question stopped him in his tracks. “I…” with a glance at his new husband, Neji shook his head. “I do not know, honestly.”
“Then you can learn,” Gaara’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “And if you need help with anything, we are here to help you. There are duties I must see to, but I will see to it that I spend time with you as your husband. I know this is a marriage of convenience, but I do intend to make sure you are comfortable and safe here. That was the deal struck, and the proposal made.”
Neji smiled back, the expression small as well.
When they parted ways, Gaara waited in the hall until Neji was safely in his rooms, the door shut behind him.
-X-
Oh, he might have made a mistake.
When he had been contacted by Hyuuga Hiashi, asking for a favor, he’d had a vague recollection of pale eyes and dark hair. There hadn’t been enough of an awareness of the world, back then, to really remember who was who when it came to anyone other than those who immediately stood with him. Gaara had been barely a person during the Chuunin exam, almost not enough of one to stand next to his brother and sister and remember not to kill them in a fit of bloodlust. The few times he had seen Neji, he likely had not gotten enough of a look at him to remember him.
Looking at him, now, he was a beautiful person.
Even if one set aside his looks, he was graceful and elegant, with long lines and perfect posture. There was a sort of pride in how he walked, something in him that even captivity could not beat down.
He had not lied to Neji.
Naruto had written to him, after receiving a letter from home, asking for help and advice on a matter to do with the Hyuuga Clan. A promise had been made, Naruto had told him, and Hinata was worrying about her cousin. He had told her to contact Tsunade, who had contacted the head of the clan – who had, in turn, contacted Gaara. His nephew needed a safe harbor, a shield, a place to reside where his own clan could not easily turn against him. Distance would be an added advantage. He had failed his nephew before, Hiashi had written. He could not stand to do so again.
The letter of a desperate man.
With how few friends Gaara had, he had taken the opportunity to help them. It just happened to be beneficial to him, as well. With the youngest Kazekage on record, the people of Suna wanted assurances that he was settled. That he was not going to disappear or be ill at ease.
A political balance, combined with a favor to a friend, combined with –
“So how screwed are you?”
His brother’s presence wasn’t a surprise. Gaara had registered his chakra from the door. “By that you mean…?”
“He’s pretty,” Kankurō was leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. “Intelligent. Got a bit of a snarky side to him, once he settles in, I noticed.” He watched as Gaara pulled off his gourd and coat, settling them to the side of his desk. “By the rules of the Kazekage’s palace, you had to put him in the suite meant for the Kazekage’s bride, so that’s fun.”
“Kankurō.”
“You should show him your greenhouse. I think he might like the plants. He’s a Konoha shinobi, after all. Their village is mostly green,” Kankurō shrugged when Gaara turned to look at him. “I know you like spending a lot of time there when you can, but I don’t think he’ll impede on your quiet time too much. Even at his loudest, I don’t think he’ll get too loud.”
“He does not know what his hobbies might be.”
“Okay, and? You didn’t either.”
Gaara sat down, turning to look at his brother. Kankurō had a point. Gaara had been a mess of a person, a basic assemblage of limbs and cloth and barely anything more, when he had taken the role of Kazekage and done his best to become someone his people could trust. “If I could trust you with gathering basic art supplies for him?” Gaara kept his voice quiet. “Sketching, perhaps watercolor. It seems like something he may be interested in trying, something that may have been taught by his family. From there, he can branch outward and see what else he may like.”
Kankurō nodded. “Good idea.”
“As for…” Gaara sighed. “He’s lovely.”
“…Sensing something else coming up, here. Not liking the something else coming up here,” Kankurō stared at him.
“Marriage of convenience.”
“Just means you have things locked down while you work on getting him to fall in love with you.” Kankurō shrugged. “Don’t lock yourself away from the possibility, Gaara. Not unless you really don’t want it. Not unless you decide you don’t want it. I am too damn old to watch you suffer needlessly again. I spent thirteen years watching you suffer and suffer alone, kid,” he reached out and cautiously ruffled Gaara’s hair, smiling when Gaara’s sand didn’t immediately rush up to greet him, didn’t bat him away. It was a mark of how far they had come. “I’m not willing to go back there. If you work on it, he’ll come to appreciate and like you.”
“I think he already does appreciate this,” Gaara murmured, leaning his chin in his hands. Neji’s smile, no matter how small, had been nice.
“That’s a start,” Kankurō grinned, all sharp teeth and paint. “And it’s better than nothing.”