Title: Identical Lies

Rating: T for language

Pairings: ?/Hyuuga Neji, ?/Hyuuga Hinata and others.

Genre: A bit of everything.

Summary: They may have the same eyes, the same tone of skin, and the same hair color. They may have been born on the same night, graduated the academy and passed all together on the same days. However, Nagakawa Reikou, Kai and Nukumi; they were far from identical. They were completely different, but stronger as a whole. Hyuuga Neji knows that. But when that bond starts to break, and Reikou starts to lose the control she always had, she goes out to search for something, anything, that can fix her again. Neji understands and relates, but when asked to save Reikou, he struggles to do so. Kai can only stand back and watch the Hyuuga do what he can to save his sister. Unknown to him; he and Nukumi were breaking just as fast.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of NARUTO or it's characters.

"Oi!" Hagane Kotetsu sprung up from his seat, making his partner's head shoot up at the loud outburst. Kamizuki Izumo frowned, rubbing at his arm as Kotetsu prodded him with his elbow.

"What is it?" The dark brunet male scowled, exasperated that he was interrupted from reading the scroll out in front of him. Instead of answering, the louder of the duo pointed out towards the large gate from their seats inside their small shelter, where they were to guard and take note of people entering and leaving the village. Izumo leaned against the counter, sticking his head out to get a better view.

"Well look who's finally back," Izumo said with a raise of an eyebrow. Kotetsu was already out of his position, and waved enthusiastically towards the incoming team. Izumo slowly got out of the small station, and bowed his head slightly before holding a hand out to shake. "Shou-senpai."

Said male grinned, eyes turning up into crescents behind black thick rimmed glasses. Izumo tilted his head curiously, his eyes scanning the three other teammates that stopped beside the jounin he had just greeted. "Shou-senpai, your team has grown a lot, but you -" Izumo looked at the male with a slight smirk, "You didn't look like you aged a day when you left."

"That's true!" Kotetsu scowled, frowning at his own misfortunes. "You're still as good looking as ever, no wonder all the ladies seem to go for you before me." The male scratched at his goatee in thought with his index finger, a pout on his face.

"Ahh," Okamoto Shou smiled, running a hand through his dark hair, his bangs immediately returned to the side swept it was always kept at. "My hair grew, didn't it?" The 29 year old male said with the same smile plastered over his face since he had entered the village.

Izumo heard Kotetsu scoff before blabbering on, questioning about the mission the team had arrived back from with Shou and the two other females of the team. Izumo looked beyond the small chattering group. As usual, the male of the team hung behind, Izumo noticed, his body slouched with his hands in the pockets of his flak jacket, his dark auburn hair wild, but away from his face, giving a clear indication that he could hide his emotions well enough to not wear a mask, or a hitai-ate over his forehead. It seemed to announce strength, and pride, rather than just looking pretty. Izumo smirked inwardly, and greeted the male with a nod, "Kai."

The other chunin raised his head, indicating he heard and gave Izumo a slight smirk, tilting his head towards Kotetsu. Izumo instantly got the sign, sighed and did what he did best - drag Kotetsu back to their station, and stop him from bothering the team signing back into the village.

"I take it that this mission was successful?" Izumo said to the dark auburn haired chunin. Nagakawa Kai nodded, before giving them a faint smile. The more responsible of the duo sensed the restlessness in the air, and translated it to the exhaustion of the team's journey. "Then we'll catch up with you guys later."

He saw Kai nod giving him a tired smile of appreciation. Izumo watched Kotetsu attempt at flirting with the two kunoichi, only to see them both raise an eyebrow simultaneously, making Izumo chuckle. Kai and Shou then motioned towards the Hokage's building, in which the females acknowledged, and began moving in the direction.

"You guys have grown, but the team hasn't changed a bit!" Kotetsu said out loud stubbornly. Izumo noticed the slight fracture in Kai's "mask" before the lazy smile replaced it once more. The chunin frowned. When was Kai so easy to read?

"You guys have grown, but the team hasn't changed a bit!"

Nagakawa Kai's mind drifted towards the two females walking ahead of him and Shou a few feet away. His hands that were in the pocket of his flak jacket tightened into fists.

No, everything has changed.

The male sighed quietly, gaining the attention of his sensei beside him. Okamoto Shou looked over, a glint of light reflecting off the spectacles. Kai gave him a half hearted smile, one that told the slightly taller male to don't even bother prodding him about it. Being the intelligent man he is, Shou got the message and returned to gazing about the village. Kai was grateful that his sensei was willing to let it slide, although he knew he would be asked about it later.

His gaze settled onto the two girls ahead of them once again. Both of them identical in height, hair color and length, the same healthy, glowing skin, and - even though Kai couldn't see from his position - two pairs of identical emeralds of eyes, just like his. It was extremely rare to have familial ties within a team, but theirs was an exception. This, of course, was because they were something rare. They weren't twins, and they weren't just siblings. They were triplets.

And Kai had no idea what to do. He had noticed the distance, not only physically, that had grown between them. Their relationship wasn't great before the mission, but now it seemed worse. There was a tight gut feeling at the bottom of his stomach; something that clenched at his abdominals. It made Kai uncomfortable, but what was he to do? He wanted to fix it. Heck, he needed to.

It's my fault.

Kai's lip twitched, itching to turn down into a frown. That is, until his thoughts were interrupted when he bumped shoulders with another male, lazily walking out of the Hokage's building. Both of the males stopped a few steps apart, turning to each other. Kai's lip then twitched again, only this time, it was turning upwards. "Well, well, well…"

The dark haired chunin standing opposite of Kai raised an eyebrow, his eyes half lidded, looking as tired as Kai felt. The male's hair was pulled back into a high spiky pony tail, his lip also twitching into a smile. "Huh, Nagakawa, you've returned."

"You should sound more excited," Kai said, nodding to his teammates who were motioning towards the building. He gave them a look that told them he'd catch up in a minute. Glancing back at his fellow chunin, he cocked his hip to one side, leaning most of his weight onto one leg. "I wasn't around for you to beat the crap out of me in shogi. Then again, you probably have Asuma-sensei for that."

Nara Shikamaru's eyes narrowed slightly, and then his eyelids lowered a bit, shielding the hidden emotion with a lazy look. Kai knew better though. He himself was a person who masked fairly well, and this was one of the few tatics he uses. "Asuma-sensei…?"

The look Shikamaru gave Kai made the dark auburn haired male stiffen up slightly. Even though the two chunins were in a slouch, hands in pockets, with similar looks of boredom on their faces - they could both feel the tenseness in the air. Suddenly, the Nara had given him a free pass into his mind, just by connecting their gazes. Kai's shoulders stiffened up even more when realization hit as he read those dark orbs.

"He's gone…" Kai stated quietly, his eyebrows furrowing together, lips in a frown. The lost of a comrade would upset anyone, but the Nagakawa knew better than that. Asuma and Shikamaru had a close relationship, and Kai could understand how it felt. Shikamaru tilted his head forward, masking his emotions again behind a lazy look. Kai's shoulders lowered slightly, "You took out the bitch that killed him though, right?"

Nara gave a smirk, one that didn't reach his eyes, at Kai's foul language, also indicating that he had indeed "took out the bitch that killed him." Almost instantly, the male changed the subject, "Shogi?"

"Will do," Kai said with a nod, even as the tiredness was wearing him down, he knew a game with the genius wouldn't affect him that much. He knew that Shikamaru wanted to catch up with him, even if the lazy ass didn't say it out loud. Although Kai would rather refrain from talking about the mission, he really needed someone else to talk to rather than Shou-sensei or his two sisters. With a silent agreement that they would meet up later, Kai entered the building, giving the male a slight wave before stuffing his hands back into his pockets.

"You've changed."

Nara Shikamaru watched as Kai seemed to flinch at those words. Although he didn't physically, the Nara could read it in the deep emerald eyes. A flash of emotion that was easily masked within nanoseconds.

"Oh yeah? You have too," was the simple reply from the other chunin. Shikamaru noted how Kai's position shifted from leaning back on his hands, to slouching forward, in a similar position the Nara was in. They were both sitting on the wooden porch of the Nara residence, a game of shogi in between them. The shadow-nin's gaze lowered to the board slowly, before sliding a piece onto a vacant spot on the board.

"A lot of things happen in four years," the genius noted, noticing how Kai seemed to be more intrigued with the game than their conversation. Shikamaru wasn't stupid. He had played with Kai before, when he had just passed as a chunin three and a half years ago. Back then, Kai was a year ahead, already a chunin a year before Shikamaru, even though their ages were the same. It was because Kai and his team had graduated the academy and took the exams early. Afterwards, when Shikamaru did become chunin, they have gotten to know each other, through meetings that discussed strategies for different missions, and different tasks the Hokage had decided to put them together on.

"Three and a half years," Kai corrected, not really wanting to think over what did change, and what stayed the same.

"Three and a half years on a mission the Hokage didn't tell anyone about, a strange mysterious disappearance, don't you think?" A laid back remark.

Kai didn't move or say a word, in fact, his eyes stayed on the board, distracting himself by thinking. Only, it didn't seem to work, as Shikamaru noticed the Nagakawa make a stupid mistake, moving a playing piece diagonally.

"It doesn't take a genius to notice that, you, out of all people, had changed - and I doubt it's for the better," Shikamaru rarely butted into another person's business, but this was getting out of hand. One of his shogi partners that could usually put up a fight was lacking this time around. It was serious enough for Shikamaru to be worried. After all, they did have a mutual friendship.

"But you are a genius," Kai frowned at the board. "Your move."

"But there's definitely something wrong," Shikamaru reached across the board, slowly sliding the piece over. Kai shookhis head. The shadow-nin read through it; Kai was denying it to himself, rather than to Shikamaru. Shikamaru's lips twitched downwards when the piece met it's designated location on the board.

"Checkmate."

Nagakawa Reikou was always on time.

Not only because she was swift and efficient; but also because of the self alarm built inside her head. She had learned to wake up at the right moments, calculate the time without being conscious of it, and even correctly measure the amount of distance and amount of time it would take at her own pace, or at the pace of another person to get to the destination. She was a twenty-four hour ticking clockwork.

But it was done subconsciously. It had grown onto Reikou since the day she was born. She had learned that it was important not to waste the time she had awake, and did everything as productively as she could. A waste of time? Never. With Reikou, she was always on her toes. Unlike the other two thirds of the Nagakawas - where her brother and sister would both lay about and enjoy rather than "freak out" (as they liked to call it). The dark auburn haired female only stopped occasionally to have a hot cup of tea for a minute, and then she was right back to doing things again. Everything. Anything.

Today was different.

Yesterday, they had just arrived back to Konoha. Their home. And last night, she had finished off writing the reports of the mission with her sister and brother at their flat. Their sensei had stopped by and helped review and add in missing key points. Usually, Reikou would be the one to send the reports to the Hokage's building; but Shou had insisted that they needed a good nights rest - even though the team knew Reikou wouldn't rest until the appropriate time on her internal clock. Eventually, she had gotten to her own bedroom and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Nothing was different yesterday.

Reikou stared at her reflection in the bathroom's mirror. Her lips in a tight frown. Her eyes, a deep emerald, reflected something she didn't want to read. If she could read herself then she was doing a horrible job at masking it up. Quickly getting her mind together, she pulled up her bangs, before tying it up over the top her head to keep out of her face with a hair tie. Her hands felt around for her hitai-ate on the counter, her eyes not once pulling away from herself as she secured it over her forehead, watching it gleam from the fluorescent light bouncing off the metal.

She hadn't woken up on time, and she felt oddly restless. Quickly, she moved herself out of the bathroom to find that she had absolutely nothing to do. The Hokage had given them a day off to rest after the mission, and she had done most chores and errands yesterday before bed. She hated these moments the most; when she was refrained from training and had nothing to keep her mind off her own thoughts.

And she hated it.

The seventeen year old needed something to do. She didn't like thinking. She was all about doing. That's why her brother and sister seem to come up with strategies better than she could.

Pounding on the front door easily distracted Reikou.

Thank god.

Slipping down the hall towards the main entrance, she stopped instantly when she opened the door to see Shou with a fist up, ready to knock again. Surprisingly, Reikou hadn't sensed it coming.

"Shou-sensei," Reikou murmured, crossing her arms. She didn't expect him here; didn't he have other reports to do?

As if reading her mind, Shou lowered his head and responded, "Finished the reports this morning."

"So?" Reikou wasn't surprised Shou knew what she had thought. He was intelligent.

And freakin' annoying.

"Didn't want to annoy you," The dark haired jounin said with the same smile plastered on his face since - well, whenever he was born. "But I heard something today."

A blink was all he got from the female, telling him to continue.

"You're applying for the jounin exams."

Shit.

Reikou pursed her lips, before leaning herself against the doorframe, not allowing the older male to enter. "And?"

"I'm concerned," His voice had dropped from carefree and light, to dead serious. Shou's smile had dropped, and his dark eyes stared seriously into Reikou's. She hadn't seen such a look since the day her and her team participated in the chunin exams.

Gods, just get on with it.

"You're…too young."

Reikou glared right back. She knew exactly what those words meant. "You think I'm weak."

There was no response, only a stare right into Reikou's eyes, reading them, peeling away any sort of fake emotion the female tried to mask herself up with. She quickly lowered her gaze, and looked past her sensei, focusing on the scenery behind him.

"If you pass the exam, you'll be dealing with A-rank missions. I don't think you're ready for it."

Then I'll get ready for it.

The female found herself walking towards the training fields, her eyes staring only straight ahead at her destination. Nothing else would distract her now. She would find out how to improve whatever she was lacking. She knew it wasn't her age. Shou didn't mean that when he said she was young. Reikou knew that it had meant something else - a hidden meaning behind those words; but she couldn't figure it out. She was strong! Why wouldn't she make jounin? She was intelligent, when she felt like it; she had the stamina; and she was damn quick. What else could be missing?

Hyuuga Neji felt his eyebrows furrowing together, not even glancing back. His Byakugan had already saw her coming. The female stood a few feet behind him, staying quiet, not really announcing her arrival, but the aura and chakra that she didn't mask made it obvious that she was to be noticed.

"Nagakawa…" Neji turned his head, his opal eyes meeting stone emerald. "You are back."

No answer. Neji didn't expect it. He slowly lowered his fighting stance, his hidden teammates that were in mid practice, came out of hiding.

"Reikou-san!" Rock Lee tumbled out of a tree, but caught his footing easily and rushed over to the female. "You are back from a successful mission, yes? I cannot believe you were gone for so long! You were gone longer than Naruto-kun when he left to train!"

Neji hid his smirk when he slowly turned his whole body towards the new visitor. Lee's often outbursts were normal to him and the people of Konoha, but the dark brunet male knew that being away from Lee for three or more years had to have made the female's mind burst from the energy Lee radiated.

Tenten stepped up beside Neji, stopping momentarily, before advancing forward, a hand out to shake. Reikou glanced at her with a nod, and shook the hand lightly, her attention focusing on the Hyuuga instead.

"I would like to speak to Neji when you're all finished." The female settled herself down on a stump, one knee raised to her body, her arms wrapped around it. Her relaxed pose told him she would be staying to watch until they were finished. Raising an eyebrow, he motioned Lee and Tenten to continue, and so they did.

Throughout training, Lee had stopped several times to yell towards the observing female, "Would you like the join us, Reikou-san?" The female would give a small shake of her head, smirking when Tenten whacked a fist over the green-clad ninja lecturing him that the Nagakawa had to rest after such a long disappearance.

Although he didn't show it, Neji was interested in why the dark auburn haired female wanted to speak with him. Occasionally, while having his Byakugan activated, he would notice the girl's emerald green eyes on him, tracing his every moment. Also, the way she didn't even look away when he glanced at her irritated him. No female would ever keep their eyes on him for too long, especially when his opal ones met theirs.

As Team Gai continued to train without their sensei, who was out on a mission, Neji began to feel more and more curious. They've been training for nearly an hour already, but the girl was still there, staying put. Eventually, he had given up with small glances, and began to observe her, multitasking as he fought both Lee and Tenten at the same time.

So far, he had noticed several things.

Reikou looked identical to her sister, Nagakawa Nukumi, who had always visited Hinata at the Hyuuga Compound before they had left. She and Reikou both had similar features to Kai, their other third. They had the same hair and eye color, and the same tone of skin. They were born on the same day, they graduated the academy and passed the chunin exams a year early together. All three of them were one. They were stronger as a whole.

But Reikou was far from identical. She was different in more ways than just her personality. Neji didn't know everything about the Nagakawa, but he knew enough that Kai was laid back, almost like Nara Shikamaru - and had the intelligence too. Nukumi was the warm hearted one, much like Hinata, but was a bit more outspoken than her, with more confidence as well. In addition to that, the Nagakawawere known for their affinities. Usually, within a clan, they all had the same chakra element. Apparently, from what Neji had learned from the Hokage, and his uncle; the Nagakawa held different elements within each person.

Neji could almost feel the fiery chakra of the observer. It constantly licked at his conscious, forcing him to take second glances to spot Lee and Tenten and continue their spar. It was distracting.

But it was almost soothing.

As he moved with grace, deflecting weapons of Tenten's, and limbs of Lee, he felt the fire of her chakra and aura. The warmth tickled his senses, causing him to furrow his eyebrows, and try to keep control - focussing solely on the match. It soon became hard to accomplish when he was slightly distracted by a small movement of the observer, her hands reaching up to fix her bangs with the hair tie. His own long dark chestnut hair shielded his gaze, the wind lifting it up so his face was temporarily blocked from her view. Unfortunately, since he was distracted, Lee landed a kick at his gut, causing him to stumble back a few paces before deflecting the next kick to his head.

When training soon came to an end, Tenten and Lee had left them alone in the clearing. Neji waited for the two retreating figures to disappear out of sight before stepping towards his audience, his hands smoothing out his white robes. Opal eyes reading green ones. The Hyuuga could sense the insecurity beneath the wall Reikou had built to keep herself guarded.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Neji asked, his eyes never leaving the female's.

"The exams," Reikou stood up slowly - although it was her day off, the pale eyed jounin noticed she was still dressed in her kunoichi attire. Black hitai-ate around her forehead, a black beater, black shinobi pants that ended halfway down her calves, with the classic kunai pouch around her left leg and dark sandals. The only thing different was that she did not wear the flak jacket that Neji had seen her and Kai around with. The only color she wore was the green gem necklace around her neck that corresponded to her eyes.

"You were a chunin before I was," the Hyuuga stated calmly, his eyes unreadable - glancing down at the younger female. Standing straight, she was only tall enough to reach the level of his eyes. And even though they stood a few feet apart, the jounin could feel the fiery aura even greater than before.

"But you are the only one among our age group that has advanced to jounin," Reikou said with a tilt of her head, and a cock of her hip, leaning on one leg, as both of her hands slipped into the pockets of her pants.

Neji frowned, his hands crossing across his chest. His mind settled on what the female was talking about - the Jounin Exams. He could see the hidden determination in those eyes - but for all the wrong reasons. The male found himself digging deeper into her eyes, trying to dig out whatever she was hiding, whatever reason why she wants to make jounin.

"Why do you want to make jounin?" An unfazed question. Although Neji could sense the female stiffen up. To regular eyes, her emotions were easily masked. To the Byakugan user, he could see the slightest flinch, the smallest twitch, and the quickest flash of emotion through the eyes.

"The same reason as you," The auburn haired female replied without giving a carved answer. "Its my goal. It's what I've been training for my entire life."

"Then why have you come to me for?"

"I have several people against it."

Neji blinked, before silently sighing to himself. He didn't know how that would feel like. Team Gai had always supported him, no matter how annoying they were. His clan could care less, but he had Hinata's and his Uncle's acceptance. He had the skill after all. If he could make jounin, than Reikou should have no problem - if he didn't know any better.

But he did know.

He had gone through the exam, and he had done A-rank missions and rarely, some S-ranked ones. He knew how much strength a shinobi must need for being a jounin. Not just physical, but mental and emotional as well.

"You know what I'm lacking," Reikou had broken his thoughts, hitting the nail on the head. One of Neji's eyebrows hitched up slightly at the comment, but made no remark as he analyzed her eyes a bit more.

"You know that pisses me off," Reikou muttered, her eyes glancing away.

Easy.

The Hyuuga could read her easily. Before the Nagakawa's disappearance, he had always seen Reikou as a perfectly skilled kunoichi. She could hide any emotion extremely well, and her battle techniques were quite advanced. He had seen her appear and disappear around the village, and in and out of it. Everyone had acknowledge her as someone who "couldn't sit still." Hyuuga, back then, had admired her for all the things she had accomplished until now.

But now, just glancing at the female - he could see everything in those eyes. The shell that was once hard and protective made her unreadable. Currently, it was as if she was struggling to put up a broken wall. A wall that couldn't be pieced back together.

"What you're lacking…" Neji finally started, gaining the female's attention again. "Mental and emotional stability."

He almost smirked when he saw her flinch, her eyes hardening and flickering - as if confused whether to feel angry or sad. The furrow of the eyebrows gave it away.

Bingo.

"You're a great kunoichi, Nagakawa," Neji dropped his arms slowly, keeping his gaze on the emerald ones - ignoring the flickering of fire in the aura. He could feel her instability with no effort. She was vulnerable; and the Hyuuga guessed it had something to do with the long mission she and her siblings had disappeared off to. "But you've changed. Until you can settle your thoughts and emotions, I don't suggest trying out for the exams."

"How?" was the only word she could choke out.

How?

Neji's mind echoed - almost at lost for words at the moment. His eyes followed the girl's movements - the clench of her hands within her pockets, and her eyes hitting the ground. Suddenly her fiery aura had died down as fast as it was ignited. It surprised him. What she was right now, Hyuuga guessed, was the fire. A fire that blazed enormously with just a faint wind, but can die down with just enough of it. Her emotions were everywhere, unpredictable, like fire.

"Try meditating," the jounin recommended, stepping back, indicating he'll be leaving soon. Neji could see the small crack in her strength, and he knew if he stayed any longer, he would experience the shatter - he wouldn't be able to fix what had happened, and he didn't plan to since the beginning. The look in her eyes made him falter a bit, reminding him of something he couldn't place a finger on. Another step back, and then his body vanished as the next wind tumbled by. He was fast, but not fast enough to catch Reikou close her eyes tightly and hear her voice break out in a desperate whisper, as she sank into a crouch, the heel of her palms pressed into her eye sockets.

"I can't."

EDIT: Ahh! I just read through this chapter again and found several grammar mistakes. I'm sorry for any I miss! ^^;

Next chapter will be up quite soon ~