NejiTen
Chapter 1: Bodiless Spirit
Kunai are my strong points, but even then I could barely dodge the kunai Neji threw.
His aim is that of a child's, but he placed this throw with accurate precision. I spun to the right, but the blade scraped my side nonetheless. I summoned as many shuriken as I could (it seemed he controlled the kunai in this battle) and threw them at him with all the force I could conjure up. He dodged every single one.
He stood poised to throw, but before he could, a dai shuriken whistled past my head and hit him in the stomach.
"No," I screamed as I sat up in bed. Looking around I saw nothing that even vaguely resembled what just happened.
"Oh, it was only a dream," I said aloud. I got out of bed and got dressed. I walked down to the training field and there was Neji sparring with Lee.
At the end of their match, Neji walked toward the woods. I ran to catch up to him.
I walked in suit beside him and said, "Hey Neji, good fighting back there."
"Thanks Ten," he said. "Do you want to see something really cool?"
"Sure"
"Follow me then."
We walked in the general direction of the lake, but took a left before we got there. He took me somewhere he had only talked about before.
"Wow," was the only coherent response I could think of. I was awe struck.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," he asked?
"More beautiful than anything I've ever seen," I told him.
We just stood there looking at the beautiful sight before us. On the left were the rolling hills of sand village's land. On the right was no-man's land of the Scarlet Mountains. And there, right in front of us, was the lake with the sun shining off it just so, that it looked like there were a million diamonds just beneath the surface of the water.
"Neji, I don't want to take the beauty out of this sight, but I need to tell you something really weird," I said.
"Okay," he said quizzically.
"Well before I came to the training yard today, I had this weird dream. You and I were sparring and your accuracy had improved drastically and you threw a kunai at me and it hit my side I summoned as many shuriken as I could and threw them all at you, but you dodged them like I've never seen. As you got ready to launch the next weapon in your belt, a dai shuriken flew past me and … and -," I couldn't finish. I fell to my knees as the full force of this dream came over me. As I sat there, I felt hot, salty tears stinging my eyes and streaming down my face.
"Ten, what happened next," he asked kneeling down next to me.
"You were gone," I said. Then I fell into his ready arms and cried.
When I finished crying, he held me still. He said, "I can't believe you feel that sad about your dream. Besides that's all it was, we both know I couldn't beat you in a fight if I tried."
"Yeah that's true," I said.
"C'mon we better get back before anyone starts to get some idiotic notion of what we've been doing out here all this time," he said.
He stood up and helped me to my feet. He walked in front while I followed him, lost in my thoughts. As we neared the training yard, we heard the shouts as another sparring match started, this time between Lee and Gaara.
"Finally decide to show up, did you," Master Gai asked?
"Master," Neji said bowing, "We're sorry."
"Don't let it happen again," he said.
"Yes sir," we said.
"Because you are so late, you two will be the next sparring partners. Get ready. Whoever loses has bathroom duty for the next two weeks," he said.
Neji and I looked at each other, I said, "You better not have gotten excellent accuracy in the last hour."
"You never know," he said just as Lee and Gaara's match finished.
"Your up, Ten – Ten and Neji," Master Gai said.
"This is going to be a short fight," Gaara whispered to Lee.
"I wouldn't be so sure. Ten – Ten can throw with precision, but Neji can dodge like no other. This fight may be the longest yet, Lee said back to him standing up for his teammates.
"Ready, you two," Master Gai asked?
"Ready," we said in unison.
"Good, then let's begin," he said.
The match started like any me throwing, Neji dodging, just like always. As the match wore on, I began to feel sick and dizzy. But it soon passed and I was fine. Close to the end of the match, as the time dwindled, waves of nausea rolled over me. In my mind's eye, I saw someone moving through the trees. In the corner of my eye I saw a glint of silver.
"Neji, drop to the ground," I said.
"What," he asked, stunned?
"Just do it. NOW," I yelled.
Just like that, he listened and just as he did so, a dai shuriken, much like the one in my dream, came flying past me. It flew over Neji and stuck in the tree behind him.
"That was close. Thanks Ten," Neji said.
"No problem," I said, breathless.
It seems my dream wasn't a dream at all, but something different, something real, horrifyingly real.
To be continued …