Everyone told Neji that he was a genius.
Perhaps that's why, then, when he met Rock Lee, failure at Genjutsu and Ninjutsu, he couldn't help but scoff.
Back then, he thought of Lee as an idiot. A complete loser who lived in a fantasy land, where people reached their dreams and goals and it didn't matter where you came from, but what you became.
Neji had laughed. The whole thing was ridiculous. People were ruled by fate, and fate had decreed Lee could never beat Neji.
Just as it had decreed that Neji could never have a future.
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People used to tell Lee he would never be stronger then Neji. Lee never listened. That just made Neji hate him.
He hated Lee even more, when Gai-sensei favoured him over Neji. He favoured the little insignificant nothing, over Neji the genius, Neji the strongest ninja of his age-group, Neji, pride of the Hyuuga clan.
When Neji fought Lee, he fought him with all his might, and hit him harder then he had hit anyone in his life. Lee fell down at every touch, and whenever he did, Neji felt a wave of satisfaction.
Then, he would get up again and demand a rematch, and Gai-sensei would praise him like he was the son he never had. It was those times when Neji hated him more then he even hated the main branch.
Even now, looking back, he is not quite sure why.
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At the Chuunin exams, Lee had been pummelled into the ground by someone called Gaara, and had both his arms and legs crushed.
He fell to the ground, bleeding all over, and Neji smirked. Then, his body started to move, and Neji watched in silent shock, as Lee stood up again.
Then, he had to be taken off the field in complete disgrace.
That would teach him. Dreams were useless, they never amounted to anything.
Then, Neji met Uzumaki Naruto, the loser who lived in a fantasy land, where people lreached their dreams and goals, and it didn't matter where you came from, but what you became.
And Neji lost, and fell to the ground.
Neji didn't get up.
And then, suddenly, Lee didn't seem so stupid.
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When Neji saw Lee lying in that bed covered in tubes, leg and arm crushed, he didn't scoff or laugh, thinking that Lee's dreams had been crushed too. He didn't do anything.
He stared at the broken body of the boy who had known where he was going his whole life, who now may never be able to fight again.
"You were right," said Neji, because it seemed like the right thing to do, "You were right, about fate."
Neji took a huge breathe, "I was wrong. I think…" he pauses, "I think…you could be an excellent shinobi."
He knows Lee can't hear a word he's saying, but when a small smile appears on the sleeping face, he can't help but feel that maybe a few words may have gotten through.
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He heard soon after that Lee had undergone an operation, with a fifty-fifty percent chance of failure.
Gai-sensei was waiting outside the operation room when it happened. Neji hadn't known about it, and had stumbled on him accidently whilst having a checkup on the wounds he received when fighting Naruto.
Gai-sensei had looked at him, tears in his eyes and a smile of pure pride on his face, "He is so brave, is he not, Neji-san?"
Neji could only think of one reply.
"Hai."
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When Neji met him on that roof, three days after, he wanted to tell Lee something, though he wasn't sure what. He stood awkwardly, as Lee stumbled towards him, a smile on his face.
"I see you recovered from your operation," he said, because, for some reason, nothing else came.
He expected Lee to be offended that he seemed not to care, but he smiled his smile and lifted up his hand and raised his thumb, and told him not to worry.
When Neji looks back, he can still remember the colour and smell of the blood that rushed out of his hand and onto the floor. When he met Lee's eyes, they begged him to ignore it.
Neji knew he should tell Lee to sit down, but but he doesn't, instead turning his head to look out over the staircase below them, as two birds took off into the sky.
Together.
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Things have changed. Neji is stronger now, in fact, Neji is a Jounin, the strongest type of Ninja there is.
Lee is only a Chuunin, he can still only use Taijutsu, and he still had no fashion sense.
But things have changed. Neji has changed.
He remembers when he mocked Lee, he remembers when Lee was beaten, he remembers when Lee underwent an operation, and he remembers, most of all, Lee always got back up.
Neji, though a genius, though incredibly gifted, was never strong enough to do that.
Now, people say that Lee may have a chance, in a few years, to be even stronger Neji.
To Neji, he already is.
Owari...
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