The first time he's invited to the Hyuuga house, he gets lost for nearly an hour and ends up cornered in some out-of-the-way corridor by Hanabi (who, admittedly, freaks Naruto out quite a lot) until Hinata comes and saves him.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun," she says without looking at him as she leads him back to the entrance.

"I—it's okay, Hinata!" he replies, scratching the back of his neck and hoping she isn't worried or embarrassed – as it always been hard for him to tell how Hinata is feeling.

She pauses at the entrance, kneels, and opens the door in the formal fashion that as everyday to her as eating ramen is to him. She looks up at him then and smiles and says, "Will you come and visit us again?"

And while his first response is to say, "Shit, no! Your sister's psycho," the word that pops out of his mouth unbidden is "Sure."

Hinata smiles again. "I'm glad."

---

The second time he's invited to the Hyuuga house, he meets Neji in the courtyard, and they spar. Naruto doesn't like to think about Sasuke much, and how he used to be the person against whom Naruto measured himself. He definitely doesn't miss the bastard, although there're regrets buried in the centre of his belly that never seem to go away.

The thing is it's hard not think of Sasuke at all when Neji trips him and looks down from above – not smirking because Neji doesn't smirk, although there's amusement in the way he raises his eyebrows – and says, "Is that all?"

And Naruto knows he's heard that tone of voice before, years ago when the word team didn't immediately connect to the word broken in his thoughts. But he brushes dust of his knees and brushes the thoughts away with them. "You sure as fuck better hope it is," he replies and charges as Neji falls back into his resting stance.

In a month, Naruto will forget to think of Sasuke at all.

---

The third time he's invited to the Hyuuga house is for Hyuuga-sama's funeral, and he stands around uncomfortably and tries not to make eye contact with anyone (knowing full well that these are Hyuuga and so not-making-eye-contact is a futile thing to try). He watches Hinata perform the ceremonies, lit the incense, give thanks to her other long-gone ancestors, and wonders how Neji ever thought she was weak.

She finds him later, when he's escaped to the courtyard and shucked his sandals, and sits beside him, tucking her hair behind her ear as she folds her knees and drapes her kimono over her heels.

"Thank you for coming, Naruto-kun," she says. Her fingers twist into complex knots in her lap.

"Uh, yeah, well," he says. "We're friends, right?"

He thinks she looks sad when he says that, but she inclines her head and her hair falls over her eyes.

"I've always thought we were," she says.

---

The fourth time he's invited to the Hyuuga house, he isn't actually invited, but he shows up anyhow. He finds Neji sitting in the dojo, propping his chin on his knee and staring into space (probably). He flops down beside him, not bothering with ‘hello's or explanations, and says nothing for a while. But Naruto has never really got a handle on this silence thing, so eventually he looks at Neji and cuts to the chase.

"You're married."

Neji blinks and flicks his eyes in Naruto's direction before looking forward again. "I am aware of that."

"No, man. You're married."

"I fail to see the difference."

Naruto lies back, folds his arms behind his head, and says, "She's going to make you do all sorts of things now. Neji, mow the lawn. Neji, bring in the laundry. Whatever her heart desires, you'll do."

Neji says nothing at first, only frowns a little and then, with a suddenness borne of heart-searching, he says, "I can't remember when that wasn't true anymore."

"Yeah," Naruto says.