Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

At Death's Door

Neji was in the toughest battle of his life. He had never before fought against an opponent so strong. This…Sound Ninja….Kidomaru was incredible. His skills at analysis, as well as his techniques of long range attacks were the exact counter to Neji's own skills. Neji, skilled in the Gentle Fist technique of his clan required his enemies to be close by. Long range was not his forte. Despite being a prodigy, Neji was slowly being beaten to a pulp. His opponent had quickly theorized his weakness, which was his blind spot, and had created many projectiles aimed towards that exact position. Even though he knew Kaiten, it could not protect him when his Chakra ran low. Meanwhile, despite running amongst the trees and weaving to and fro, Neji was still sustaining serious injuries. After Kidomaru had confirmed his theory, he began preparations to finish Neji off. Kidomaru created his most deadly arrow, took aim and then fired it exactly at Neji's blind spot. The arrow hit Neji at full force.

However, Neji was not called a prodigy for nothing. Even at death's door, Neji was still planning ahead, something he had learnt from Naruto in his Chunin battle with the kunoichi. At the last second, Neji, knowing that the arrow was headed towards his blind spot, had moved slightly, thus avoiding being pierced directly in the heart. Sending his chakra through the web connecting the arrow to Kidomaru, he managed to paralysed his opponent before going to deal the finishing blow.

Now, that situation led to this. He was collapsed next to his now-dead opponent, his body draining of blood, his chakra level close to zero. Was this death? Neji stared upwards at the foliage that was blocking his view of the sky. He could not see his favourite birds flying freely in the sky because of the branches and the leaves but he took comfort in the fact that they were up there. Still there. The wind blew, shaking the branches and causing a few leaves to fall down about him but it went unnoticed because Neji was too preoccupied by the pain and his thoughts.

Slowly, his eyes gradually began to close of their own accord. He was feeling very tired. His body was telling him to go to sleep. Yet, his mind was warning him not to. If he went to sleep, he might never wake again. He tried to distract himself from falling asleep and a familiar face was conjured up. Hinata. His cousin. Puzzled, Neji tried to sift through his thoughts. Even though his body was beginning to feel cold and numb, his mind was still alert. Why was he thinking of her now? His mind quickly flashed through his encounter with her during the Chunin exams. How they had been pitted against one another and his hatred towards the Main family had nearly caused him to murder his cousin.

Even after he discovered the truth behind his father's sacrifice and the duty his father had entrusted to him, he had not been close to accomplishing these duties. Sure, he had taken the first steps towards restoring the relationship between the Main and the Branch families by accepting his uncle, Hyuuga Hiashi's offer of training him. However, he had not even come close to righting the wrong that he had done towards his cousin, Hinata. He was meant to be her protector, just as his father was Hyuuga Hiashi's protector but he had not done any protecting and a lot of harming. He also knew that she was innocent. The cage that he found himself trapped within was not entirely her fault. In fact, on hindsight now, it seemed that she was just as trapped as he was. But what was the use of hindsight now? She had still been the one to face the full brunt of his fury, still been the easy target for all of his pent-up frustrations. He had taunted her, called her a failure and nearly killed her because she refused to surrender. If the instructors had not intervened…… Neji did not want to continue the thought. He had never thought of himself as a cold-blooded murderer. But that day, he might have turned into one. Neji would have shivered if he was not already feeling very cold.

Dimly, he could hear the sounds of people approaching; however the act of opening his eyes to see who they were was too much for him. He could only hope that they were allies. If not, then he was done for and his only regret was that he did not get the chance to apologise to his cousin. That was why her face had appeared and was still present in his head. Neji deduced that when faced with the possibility of death, your conscience seems to want to right the wrongs you had committed in your lifetime. He could now hear people talking above him. A hand brushed gently over his chest where the gaping wound caused by the arrow was and he could feel a warm sort of energy hovering there. After a few seconds, the voice enquired, "Are you awake?"

If you had asked Neji now, he could not have told you if the voice belonged to either a male or a female but even at death's door, he managed a soft , "Hn.." indicating his consciousness.

"Please stay awake." The voice commanded. "We will try to move you. It may hurt but we need to get you back to Konoha to properly treat you."

If he heard any of this he did not give any acknowledgement. The soft answer from before seemed to have sapped him of all his remaining energy. He did try his best to stay awake though. It was not hard. After all, being moved caused the wound in his chest to twinge with pain. Pain was an effective tool for keeping one awake. However, the rest of the journey back to Konoha's medical center was a blur to Neji. His thoughts occasionally flashed to the other members in the group that was gathered to retrieve Sasuke. However, the mainstay of his thoughts was his cousin. He could not die before he told her how sorry he was. He could not die. Those were his last thoughts before he eventually slipped into unconsciousness.

Author's Notes: Am uncertain whether to continue with Hinata's pov/part.