Author's Note:
This story is entirely about Neji. It is simply a description of a situation that is based on a dream that I've actually had concerning Neji wandering around a market area, seeing a bird in a cage and setting it free. I may add more to this if I feel like it. Read and review if you want to, I'd really appreciate it.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto. Intellectual credit belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-sama who currently to my knowledge lives in a country called Japan. I do not make any money from this, and is for fun and practice in writing only. So in other words, please don't sue me or any affiliated sources. I am sure you have much better things to do with your time and money. Thank you and have a good day.
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One day, Hyuuga Neji was walking down the streets of Konoha.
He was near the market district where many shops were running.
It was the early hours of the morning and not many shops were set up yet, only a few.
As Neji was walking down this street, he was thinking.
The topic of thought was… fate.
-
It seems that despite everything he's done and how much he's changed since his genin days;
there are still some things that appear to remain inescapable.
Such appeared to be the case, when he saw a young child of his clan, a branch member,
being bullied by a main house member of around the same age or perhaps slightly older.
Prior to his change in way of thought, he would have simply walked away from such a scene.
-
However, that day he decided to intervene.
In the end there wasn't much he could do.
His intervention did not cause the bullying to stop, but merely delayed it.
In view of what he saw through his Byakugan after he left the scene,
his intervention may have even made it worse.
-
By doing what he had originally perceived as a rare good deed on his own part,
wound up only acerbating the situation
and causing the poor bullied child to experience even more shame.
The main house child accused him of hiding behind the back of the prodigy
and not being able to stick up for himself.
-
Although he couldn't hear the exact words exchanged,
by watching the movement of their mouths he was able to tell what was said.
The branch house child was also told that,
even if he were to be freed from the seal he would still be nothing more than a coward and a generally useless person.
-
It takes more than a knock to the head to sway someone completely from a life philosophy.
A few dozen knocks to the point of brain trauma… maybe.
Still, Neji continued to hold just that bit of reservation
about whether or not fate held more or less influence over a person's life than one's own efforts and intentions.
-
The intense debate raging in his head came to a halt when he spotted from the corner of his eyes
something from a shop that was just opening up on his right.
-
He would have walked right by this shop
if it had not been for the object he spotted sitting on a tall, narrow stool in front of the shop.
It was a cage. Intricately woven and expensive looking,
its bars shone in the mid-morning sunlight and gleamed like gold.
Here and there were inlaid sparkling gems of various colors.
Most likely they were fake, but it still looked very pleasing to the eye.
-
Inside the cage was an equally gorgeous looking gray bird.
Its eyes were intense and appeared to stare out at Neji in an oddly intelligent manner.
-
Neji walked up to the cage and stared back at the bird.
As he gazed into its eyes, and then looked at the cage surrounding it,
he wondered out loud a question.
-
"If I were to one day, find a way to escape my cage.
Would I still be bound by something?
Is the seal itself not my cage after all… or is it all just fate?"
-
Neji didn't really expect an answer.
The shop owner was nowhere to be seen, surprisingly.
The only sign of life from the shop was this one bird perched in the cage near the store front.
-
After the question was asked, a brief pause occurred.
Then, the bird suddenly squawked,
-
"Just fate! Just fate! Fate! Rwarrwk!"
-
Neji was so startled he jumped a little.
He had never seen a talking bird.
He had heard about them, but never seen one before himself.
-
He rarely went to places that sold animals in the first place.
This section of town normally didn't engage in '
this type of economic activity either.
It seemed almost ironic that
the first words out of the mouth
of a creature whose existence,
so closely symbolized his own state,
would be...
-
"Just Fate! Squwawk! Just Fate!"
-
Neji silently looked around for where the owner of the shop might be.
He observed that there was a small ramen shop directly opposite this one on the other side of the street.
-
There was a person working behind the counter,
and an old man eating noodles at a table who was looking in Neji's direction.
-
Neji made the guess that this man was the owner of the shop with the bird.
-
He made a silent gesture to the bird and cage and the old man nodded,
indicating that he indeed was the owner of the bird.
-
The old man finished the last of his noodles with a slurp,
and proceeded to clean himself up a little
and walked slowly over to where Neji was standing.
-
"You wanna buy 'em miste'? I sell 'em fer cheap.
I ain't like d'em looks in d'ose eyes.
Gimme da creeps dey do!
Kinda lie 'e knows mer dan me!
Hwahhahaha!!"
-
Neji glared at the old man for a bit,
before turning his gaze to the bird.
-
"How much?"
-
The old man thought for a few moments,
and then looked at the bird.
-
He then turned back to Neji all of the sudden
as if frightened by something.
He shuddered.
-
"Al'ight, 10,000 yen fer da bird,"
and then he looked at the bird again
before quickly turning away.
-
"Add 500 fer da cage."
-
Neji nodded his head in his usual calm manner
and reached into his pockets for the money.
-
He handed it to the old man.
-
The next thing that happened caught the old man by surprise.
-
Neji went to the cage,
and after a few seconds of looking at the bird and the cage,
opened the latch of the door.
-
The bird immediately flew out into the open skies,
brushing past the old man… giving him such a scare that
he jumped almost 2 feet into the air and started yelling and hollering.
-
A few moments of sputtering, "Omigwaaawd!!" and various curses and slang,
he finally looked at Neji and yelled,
-
"Now wot uz do that fer!?"
-
Neji didn't say anything.
He just watched the direction the bird had flown
until it was completely out of sight from even his eyes.
He did not use the Byakugan to follow it,
but merely started to walk away from the old man and the small shop.
-
The old man was calm now, and proceeded to count the money he got from Neji.
He counted again just to make sure of the amount, and appeared to grow angry.
-
He shouted,
-
"NOW LOOK HERE! U STILL OWE ME 500 YEN!"
-
From a distance could be heard, crisp, curt and clear,
-
"I only bought the bird,"
-
He had already left.
-
"Dang ya'll... Dat boy waz creepy too. Dey all cwazy.
Ninjas.
...
Bah!"