Eye of the Beholder
Chapter One : The Way She Moves
She untied her hair and let her long brown locks cascade around her face as she rustled her fingers through her scalp. That was all it took for him to be dead in the palm of her hand and she didn't even have a clue. She needed to retie her hair because there had been a loose strand in it before so she gathered her hair and redid her signature buns. His eyes did not wander off for a single moment as his gaze was kept on her. He bit his bottom lip and softly gulped at the sight of the brunette woman teasing him unconsciously. It was far too obvious to him that his love for her was unfolding quickly and that there was no way to stop it. He just didn't know how to handle it. He had always had a slight attraction for her, nothing he couldn't handle though. Before, he had always just given her quick responses and avoided having eye contact with her, but now the sight of her was something he couldn't avoid. Something he didn't even want to avoid. The girl he had known for years had already become a beautiful young woman.
As he was being engulfed in his thoughts, she suddenly turned over to him and met his eyes with her beautiful chocolate pupils. He was mesmerized by her dark pupils when she suddenly let a small gasp escape from her darling pink lips. A great stroke of pain struck his shoulder as he found himself with his face flat on the on the ground.
"Lee…" He growled as he got on his feet and brushed himself off.
Lee stood in front of Neji, with a shocked expression on his face.
Gai-sensei was behind Lee, with the same petrified look on his face.
Lee and Gai both rejoiced in a heartwarming hug with overdramatic tears flowing from their eyes.
"GAI-SENSEI! THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD EVER LAID A HIT ON NEJI-KUN! I DID IT! I DID IT!"
"YES LEE! YOU WERE AMAZING!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
Neji scoffed and folded his arms, both of which hurt a bit after Lee's cheap shot. Damn, he really went all out on that hit. Neji mentally grunted at the slight pain and cursed in his head.
He couldn't believe he had let his guard down, even if it was just a second. A second was all it could take for another ninja to kill you and he had let his guard down enough for them to have taken his hostage without him noticing. He mentally lectured himself over and over again until he felt her approach him. His sense of reason became a little woozy again.
"Neji, are you feeling alright?"
Such a sweet voice to his ears. He refused to make eye contact with her due to his embarrassment and decided to look ahead instead.
"Yes, I'm fine."
He kept avoiding eye contact with her and had responded to her in a cold voice. She stared at him in surprise and looked down to her feet.
"Ah, I see. That's good."
She went to gather her weapons as the stupid duo continued to rejoice at Lee's success. She neatly placed them in her bag, then pulled it over her shoulder.
"I'm done for the day, I have plans. I'll see you guys next time!"
She cheerfully waved to her team. The stupid duo stopped their cheering for a moment to say bye to her.
"GOOD- BYE OUR LOVELY LOTUS!"
Neji still had his back towards her.
"Bye."
He finally turned around when he started to hear her footsteps walk away. He watched her back as she stepped away and somehow it pained him inside.
That image was just not right to him.
He shouldn't be watching her walk away, he should be right there with her, walking side by side with her. Could such a thing be possible, he wondered. For a split second he imagined himself by her side wherever she went and he smirked.
Yeah, that image seemed a lot better to him.