Title: Fly for me
Author: Mina Vantolak
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I'm just borrowing the Hyuugas. I'll put them back, promise!
Summary: Neji's thoughts while he watches Hinata train; set post-Chuunin exam.
Neji headed to the training grounds, his mind on the most recent mission he and the others had completed. Nothing really happened out of the ordinary, but when Lee had come close (in Neji's mind) to defeating Neji, he worried. He prided himself on being the strongest and always winning a battle. If Lee was going to step up his training, then perhaps Neji should as well.
As he approached the training area, he overhead the unmistakable sounds of someone practicing on a post. He sighed. He preferred to train alone. But he had no idea on how long she would be there. After debating it for a bit in his mind, he decided to see how she was doing while waiting for her to finish. Moving silently around her until he was behind her, he settled himself on a tree branch to watch.
Hinata-sama confused him in a way that wasn't normal confusion. She was head family and therefore his 'better'. She was also younger and weaker. Ordinarily those two traits inspired his scorn, but...not with her. He detested what she represented: the main family (and thus the clan as a whole) powerless. And yet...
Hence the reason for his confusion. He couldn't articulate what it is he felt when he saw her, when he spoke with her. Always with her, he was coldly formal. That's just how it was. But sometimes he wished he could dispense with the formality. Just once. But it was too ingrained.
The main family had given up on her. It was apparent in how she was treated. She was in their eyes weak--and in Neji's as well. But something about her reminded him of Lee.
She tried. Neji knew she tried; this wasn't the first time he had watched her. She tried and she tried, but she couldn't seem to improve. And it broke his heart.
His mind's eye saw her crashing into the bars of her own cage, and he was terrified she would break her wings before the cage door would open.
He had long ago accepted the bitter reality that was his fate. He loathed it, and had struggled against it once, but the door to his cage was welded shut courtesy of the curse seal on his forehead.
Fly, Hinata-sama. Fly for me.
