The Beauty Song
A/N: Short, hopefully moderately profound piece based of the Beauty Song from the House of Flying Daggers. I ask forgiveness for any errors in either the spelling of the Chinese words, or the translation. I didn't get them off a very reliable website. Sorry::sheepish::
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, neither do I own the Beauty Song. I'm actually not sure who owns that, as it is an old Chinese Poem that was turned into a song for the movie.
The darkness flooded in around him as he nearly felt his way through the streets of Konoha at nearly midnight. His only light was the pale moon that was obscured by gray clouds drifting in front of its surface.
Neji Hyuuga stumbled slightly, cursing his idea for a walk at this hour. He hated anything that made him feel weak, especially when it came to sight, and his inability to see on this dark night was severely damaging his ego.
He slowly but steadily climbed a slight hill until he reached the peak, where he could see all of the Village Hidden in the Leaves spread out before him. The problem was, someone was already there.
In the insufficient light, the only thing Neji could tell was that it was a woman, humming gently to herself.
A step closer and a shifting of the clouds revealed to Neji the exact identity of the woman.
Tenten.
Neji couldn't decide if he were happy or annoyed that it was his teammate. She would definitely want to start up a conversation with him, certainly about something trivial, and the purpose of his walk was not interaction. But she was also the one person who helped him through his weak moments without ever making him feel so.
We can at least make sure the other doesn't trip and die on the way down this hill.
Taking another step forward, Neji prepared to make his presence known but was stopped as Tenten raised her voice as she entered the chorus of her tune.
"Beifang yu jiaren, jueshi er duli," Neji froze, captivated by a song in a language he didn't even know. "Yi gu qing ren cheng, zai gu qing ren guo."
Neji had had no idea Tenten had such a beautiful voice. Hell, he didn't even know she spoke Chinese.
"Ning by zhi qing cheng y qing guo. Jiaren nan zai de…" Her voice trailed off. Neji didn't know if he should make a sound or not; he didn't want to break the magic of the moment.
Tenten sensed him by herself.
"You're always so quiet, Neji." She said in Japanese. He came and sat beside her.
"You…you have a beautiful voice." He cleared his throat. "What did it mean?" He asked in a voice so quiet, Tenten almost missed his question entirely.
"In the North there's a lady, stunning and singular." She said, equally as quiet. It seemed as if they would destroy the night if their voices were more than whispers. "One look confounds a city; a second look dooms an empire. Rather not wishing to know, the ruination that may follow. Rare beauty is here and now." She smiled wryly. "I think some of it got lost in the translation." Neji shook his head.
"It's beautiful anyways." He said, to himself this time. "I didn't know you spoke Chinese. You never talk about it." He directed towards Tenten.
"Maybe you just never listened." They fell silent. Tenten smiled radiantly. "The clouds are going away. We can see again." Neji frowned, pondering the double meaning of her words.
"Yes. We can see again."