Uncaged Bird

by Wings-of-Icarus

"... Who do you suppose decided that the birds are free? Even if they can fly the skies unless they have a destination and a branch upon which to perch and rest their wings they might even come to resent having those wings." Neji ponders his entrapment.

"... Who do you suppose decided that the birds are free? Even if they can fly the skies unless they have a destination and a branch upon which to perch and rest their wings they might even come to resent having those wings. True freedom... true freedom may be having somewhere to return to." -Saiyuki

I am bound by the weight of nothing and everything. I am honor bound, duty bound, bound by shackles placed upon me both by others and I myself. Trapped within and without, I live life as I am told. I must live up to all these expectations. I am, for all intents and purposes, a caged bird.

Or at least, I was. Once upon a time.

I am Hyuuga Neji. I am a jounin of Konoha, one of her protectors and people. Konoha is my freedom, but my home was my cage. I used to be bound by so many things. There was duty and honor of my clan, and as a member of the Branch I was bound to the Main house. It was pitiful. I used Fate as my crutch. I was bound by Fate as well. My reliance upon it fed my arrogance- another lock upon my cage.

I was a bird with bloodied, clipped wings. Even so, I would have been happy if I could just fly. But then, one day, the Chuunin exams rolled around. There, I met Uzumaki Naruto. The man, then still a boy, who would save me and free me from my confined state. I respect him, admire him- and he deserves every bit of recognition he's getting. He's Hokage now, you know.

One by one, he smashed through the chains holding me in place. He broke through the barriers I had placed to protect my heart. He revealed the broken child inside, crying out from being locked away and denied every human's right- a right to live, not simply exist in a gilded cage.

The seal of the Branch house remains the last lock upon the cage door. The last obstacle to overcome before I can finally have the freedom I have longed for, yearned for, for the majority of my life.

I know I will never be completely free. And that is fine with me. To be truly free means to be free of all bonds. Tied to nothing, no responsibility- it sounds ideal. Hold nothing, need nothing.

And yet it still leaves something to be desired, that future. What I long for isn't simple freedom. I am still bound to the village, the people I owe, the people I love, the people I have sworn to protect. Rather than hold nothing, be nothing, and love nothing, I will create bonds of my own choice, so even as a bird flying free, I can have a home to come back to.