Author’s Notes: I just wanted to point out that, after some well-aimed advice from Mellifluence (thank you!), I’ve changed the setting of Cutting Water from the Qing Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty. Some history: The Zhou Dynasty was an interruption of the Tang Dynasty in China. Zhou Dynasty refers to the rule by Empress Wu Ze Tian (who proclaimed herself as Emperor Shensheng), China’s one and only female ruler in her own right to date. I did originally have a purpose for setting it in the Qing Dynasty, but it was not so large as to effect the entire story, and chapter two was still early enough to make the change. Thanks for understanding.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

Cutting Water

Chapter Two

By Nessie

Three horses made their way out of a wood dense with foliage, emerging to come upon a quiet beach. The stallions whinnied and tossed their manes as their treaded upon the pure white sand, kicking up pale clouds in their wake. There were only two riders that were greeted by the low tide that foamed along the shore, and both of them frowned through the fog that the midday sun had not yet burned away.

The shore should not have been so peaceful. The men had expected work noise to disturb the area, crude shouts of seamen or servants’ grumbled complaints. But there was only the screeching of gulls high above their nickering horses.

One man in a high-collared garment and glasses as dark as his hair turned to his companion. “If they’re late, we should inform Gai-shi fu. He’ll tell—”

“And if they’re wrecked?” questioned the other, his oddly-marked cheeks puffing as he released an irritated exhale. This man had an air of recklessness about him, and sitting with him on his horse was a scruffy, light-colored dog that peered out as intently as he. “According to Lee, that means some damn bad news for us, Shino.”

Shino did not reply. His eyes had settled on an object in the distance. From his vantage point, it appeared to be nothing more than a shapeless mass, but he reached out to take the other horse’s reins from his friend. “Go back, Kiba. Say I shall be along shortly.”

Kiba, too, had found the mist-enshrouded figure with his sharp eyes. “Fine,” he muttered, rubbing the top of his dog’s head as he turned his horse around. “Come, Akamaru.” The mutt gave a parting bark as they went away.

Left alone, Shino guided both remaining horses toward the mysterious shadow – which he now knew to be a body – that held his attention. He dismounted a few feet away, approaching with the caution that life had reared him with. Nearing, he saw that the man’s eyes were opened a crack, and Shino’s jaw tightened. When he was close enough to touch the motionless man on the ground, wet from the tide lapping over him again and again, he immediately sprung up.

Water sprayed like scattered gemstones as long hair flew into the air. In the one swift movement, the man Shino had feared to be dead was on his feet and drew his sword with unbelievable speed. He took a stance, and the blade glinted blindingly from the available sunlight, casting a devilish golden streak that slanted across the eyes of who Shino now knew to be—

“Hyuuga Neji.” With the forming of his name, the man’s eyes lost some of their ferocity but far from all. Instead, a peculiar calmness entered his features, most likely from the realization that the stranger held no weapon. His coal-dark hair hung in dripping snarls to the middle of his back, and there was a strip of seaweed wrapped around his left wrist dangling almost comically. Shino, however, was not amused by it, even though the height of his collar would never have revealed a smile.

“I…” The sea-washed youth swallowed twice, his pearl-like eyes wide as he panted. “I am…”

“Most assuredly alive,” supplied Shino when it seemed the Japanese man’s voice had failed. “You will know me as Long Shino. I have come to meet you and take you to the compound. Here, I’ve a horse for your use.” He assisted Neji in mounting, tearing the seaweed from his wrist. Neji never sheathed his sword but simply stared, dazed, at whatever was in front of him.

“How did you know,” managed the soaked rider once the sand gave way to rich dirt and the sky was mainly obscured by trees, “that I am Hyuuga Neji?”

From behind the fabric of his collar, Shino gave a wistful upturn of lips. “With all of the ill fate the clan of Long has endured, it would be heartless gods that took you away as well.”

Neji made no reply to the cryptic statement but rode in wordlessness, shifting awkwardly in his saddle. He appeared nearly catatonic.

“Does the sight of China unsettle you?”

“No.” Neji’s grip visibly tightened on his reins. “I have been here before…right here.” A strange note was in his tone, reflecting something outside of Shino’s recognition. Neji turned his eyes skyward, and neither man spoke more.

The further they rode, the more Neji experienced a mind-numbing feeling of…nostalgia? Déjà vu? He could recall this very pathway from years ago…the slim road worn now by hooves, wheels, and feet had then been newer, and the trees that would be easily scalable by a man his age had once appeared too tall for a small boy of five to reach. Then, Neji had not ridden alone but on the lap of a man who, unlike him, had not survived to travel through this path again on his way home.

“This is a place of greatness. There are thing here in China to be protected. Don’t you think so, Neji?”

As the sun rose higher, beams of golden light slanted through the trees growing ever thicker. “We’re nearly there,” murmured Shino after a time, “but my clan cannot afford to take any chances.” He presented a slip of indigo silk. A moment passed, and then Neji paused, finally sheathing his sword, and leaned over obligingly so that the bespectacled man could secure the blindfold over his eyes.

The rest of the journey Neji spent in quiet darkness, with only the steady rhythm of the horses’ hooves and birdsong to break the silence. At last, Shino instructed Neji to halt his mount in addition to saying he could remove his blindfold. The sight of the Long compound was as the trail leading to it had been; unseen and yet vaguely familiar to Neji, as though the intimidating high stone walls could only barely be reached by his memory’s grasping fingers.

“Hyuuga,” said Shino. The addressed man gave the smallest of starts. He took something from the pouch at his hip – a mirror, and reflected it toward the top of the wall. “Welcome to China.” Almost at once, the wall parted before their eyes. A portion of the barrier that Neji had thought to be stone was truly wood, and two panels were splitting open to allow them inside. Shino rode on first, leading the way.

The compound of the Long clan was the exact opposite of the Hyuuga compound in Japan. The most noticeable difference was that it was brimming with noisy energy. The first specific thing the Hyuuga saw was that three guards were posted on elevated stations all along the inside walls surrounding the compound. The one who had let them in was a cheerful-looking, grandiose man with a mane of bright red hair. He waved to Neji, as did the blond man and a man with a black ponytail on duty with him. Neji averted his gaze.

Small buildings were erected all throughout the vicinity, many of them connected by a shared well of bridge. There were as many as eight community wells and three miniature streams leading to them. Hundreds of small vegetable gardens lines the compound’s parameter as well as flower beds that thrived on either side of the main road on which Shino led him. Feeling eyes on him, Neji glanced downward to see family members (he assumed that was what they were) staring up at him unabashedly. There was a bored-looking youth glancing between him and the board game he played with a young man remarkably resembling the grandiose guard. A fair-haired girl tending to one of the flower beds looked particularly interested, and she sent him a flirtatious smile, only to fume when she received no responsive expression.

Neji soon saw that the road led to a building like what he was accustomed to; a grand, oversized mansion that undoubtedly hosted the Long clan’s leader. He had entered that place only once before, when he had arrived in China fifteen years ago. Carvings of serpent-beasts had been expertly cut into the wood frame of the house, and upon the wide screen of the main entrance, an exquisite, silver-scaled dragon had been painted, his long tail curling about himself as he flew among cloud-encircled mountaintops.

“This is as far as I go,” Shino said and Neji took that as a sign to get down from his horse. On the ground again, he was still a little unsteady and waited patiently for instructions. “Enter through the front door there; you will meet an assistant inside.”

“Thank you,” said Neji, his voice soft as his attention remained on the fantastic house before him. Shino rode off, taking the extra horse, and the Hyuuga branch son wasted no time in doing as he had been told. Sliding back the paper door, he stepped out of his waterlogged shoes and onto the polished wood of the floor inside. The main entrance was not as large as he had somehow suspected, and mainly served as a centered area that lead to a number of other corridors that surely held room after room. None of the noise from the main part of the compound could reach this place. Neji could see no one, and the house was almost eerie in its seeming emptiness. He strode forward, hoping for a glimpse of someone in a hall.

“Welcooooome!”

He whirled around, his hand falling without delay upon the hilt of his still-sheathed sword. The man that had so well managed to sneak up behind him grinned from ear to ear, supposedly pleased to see Neji but just as plausibly pleased with himself for startling the newcomer. His eyes were unusually wide beneath a set of impressively thick eyebrows. The glint of his teeth as he smiled was bright enough to make one want to shield one’s eyes, and he stood with an overall air of self-confidence about him.

Even though he knew he had no reason for it, Neji immediately felt an extreme wary sort of anxiety about this person. He cast a sense that he had an illness of some kind – one involving an obsession with hunter green clothes, for this man was covered neckline to ankles in them – that would spread if Neji went too close. It was surprising, to say the least. Neji had never been so instantly affected by someone.

“Who are you?” he asked after staring for an amount of time that he felt was sure to be considered rude.

However, the green-clad youth seemed about as offended as a dolphin on a sunny day in the Atlantic. “Introductions, of course!” he exclaimed with undue excitement. “I am Lee of the Long clan. And you are most certainly Hyuuga Neji.”

“It seems my personal introduction is unnecessary, as I am the only unfamiliar person here,” replied Neji with calm so far contrasting from Lee’s zeal that it was almost uncomfortable.

“True,” Lee nodded with folded arms, “but that isn’t how I knew you. You see, we of the clan were told to watch for one with eyes like the full moon.”

This second mention of the clan impressed upon Neji the altogether unlikelihood of Lee being related to anyone else here. In fact, since seeing those within the Long compound, there had been no overall linking resemblance of the people. The blond girl and redheaded man stood out in his mind.

Neji managed to inquire after he managed to stop wondering how on earth someone’s teeth could be that white, “You are of the same blood as leader Long Tao Huang?”

“Certainly not!” cried Lee with a broad smile, as though this notion was the most ridiculous of notions. “It would have been an honor and privilege to be born his relative, yet fate was not so kind to me. Though let it not be said that I disdain my position in life, for that would be most un-youthful of me!”

“Well-spoken, Lee!” boomed a voice from an adjacent corridor.

Neji again swiveled, this time to see…Lee. Except he was bigger and more muscled and spoke in a rich bass. But this man, whoever he was, had the same hair, teeth, and wildly green clothes as the man who had greeted Neji. Here was a resemblance he could call to be from blood.

“Welcome to you, Neji of the Hyuuga clan in Japan!” He went Neji a smile even more dazzling than Lee’s. “My, but how the years have flown over my old head. Fifteen summers, and here you stand a man before me. The last of you I remember, you were a crying child setting sail for his grandfather’s land.”

The familiarity of the voice hit him first after the initial wave of humiliation. Neji had known this man when he had come to China at five years old. “Gai,” he tried, hoping memory served. The wide, pleased grin Gai produced was answer enough that he was correct. “You are Gai. You fought beside my father.”

“And such a man I will never meet again,” assured Gai. “Hizashi could not have brought more honor to you, Neji, nor you to him, for you stand here – his mirror image! Of course, from what I hear, all Hyuugas look very alike,” rambled Gai. “But it is the principle of the thing, is it not?”

Lee was practically glowing with delight as he listened to the older man. “Of course, Gai-shi fu!”

“I don’t recall you having a son,” commented Neji with another look towards Lee. “Were you—” But the double rumble of Lee’s and Gai’s combined chortles made it impossible for him to finish his question.

“Lee, my son! Sure enough, he is. But not a son as you in the Hyuuga clan would think.” Gai lifted a finger. “I tell all who live here, Neji, that there are reasons for devoting yourself to another that go beyond the lines of traditional ties. Long Tao Huang, my most regarded friend and the leader of this clan, asked me personally to see that this Long family is not bound by any patriarch. We share things better than blood.” When he received nothing but a perplexed stare from the white-eyed man, Gai let out another barking laugh. “But there is no need to trouble yourself with such depth at this moment. Dusk is falling. As is custom when we have a guest, we will feast tonight. Lee, take this fiery Japanese youth and change his clothes. I dare not ask why you are in such a state for fear of seeing the same bad luck.” Gai clapped Lee hard on the back. “Eh, Lee? See that he’s ready to meet our most respected leader.”

Lee led Neji to a corridor secluded from the rest of the house which seemed to contain only two rooms. They entered the room on the left side of the hallway, and Neji waited until the door was slid shut before asking, “Is he still a serious man?”

“Gai-shi fu?” Bringing him a set of fresh garments from a chest by the window, Lee looked at Neji as if he were naturally an absurdly-minded fellow. “Certainly not! Not when he doesn’t need to be. How did he ever manage to make that impression?”

Neji shot him a baleful look and took the clothes from him. “I do not mean Gai. I was referring to your Long Tao Huang. When I saw him as a boy, he was always intense. Solemn.”

Much like you, Lee thought but did not say so. There was something more important to say. “I do not understand, Hyuuga.” He turned away while Neji dressed. “I was informed by those that matter and heard that your uncle, Hyuuga Hiashi, sent you here much the way your grandfather, Hyuuga Haji, sent your father here fifteen years ago.”

“That is correct.” Neji was at once disconcerted to think that his family history was common knowledge in this compound.

“Then how is it,” Lee went on, his brow furrowing, “that you do not know Long Tao Huang is dead?”

Neji’s hands halted in retying his sword to his hip. White eyes flew up to the back of a bowl-haired head, but Lee did not turn around. “Dead?”

“I never knew him. I was inaugurated into the Long family quite near to six years before now, but the honorable Long Tao Huang passed away from a weary heart ten winters ago.” Glancing over his shoulder, Lee arched his eyebrows. “Did you leave Japan unaware of who you would be serving?”

Neji stood, entirely unsure of what to say or do. Fury was steadily rising inside of him. He had been lied to and made a fool of. His uncle, daft as he was, had not been content to take from him the only worthy prospect his life had held.

“I wish to announce to the Hyuuga clan’s elders that, as I am aging, I will soon be relinquishing control of the clan. It is true that there are no sons for Hyuuga Hiashi to speak of, and this is a personal shame. So I will be passing leadership onto my elder daughter, Hinata, until which time she is wedded and can serve under the leadership of her husband.”

“Hiashi-sama, why not appoint Neji leader? He is talented enough, and your twin brother’s son.”

Neji accepted a comb Lee handed him and proceeded to detangle his hair and make himself presentable for the feast of that evening. The strokes his hand took were more like rough sword slashes, jerking through snarls and knots with curious impatience.

“This would be a logical course of action. But my nephew Neji is the son of a woman so weak without a husband that she took her own life, and he is the son of a man who died in the barbarian country of China. There is no grave here even for me to remember by brother by, and thus I have no brother…and thus I have no brother’s son.”

“Are you prepared?” asked Lee politely when it seemed Neji was disinclined to answer his previous question.

Neji nodded, stepping out of his room with fists balled and eyes piercing.

“Hizashi left me only a trial…a branch-house urchin who, try as he like, will come to nothing more than his father did – early death and forgotten life.”

He would serve who they showed him. He would live until his service was no longer needed. And Hyuuga Neji would return to Japan and prove to his uncle – to all of the clan who shared his name – that there was a life not soon to be forgotten.

To Be Continued…