AN: This is part of my self help to myself to deal with the issues in my life. If you reap the benefits of it then awesome. If not, meh then get over it and stop reading. I dont know where this plot bunny came from but it's here and I'm running with it while it's still here.

Ino landed, in a arena. Blinking she looked around her. She wore her old chuunin outfit, bandages binding her stomach as she let the dust settle. The field was exactly the same as when Neji had fought Naruto. Ino took in the sight, feeling the holes in the field, eying the kunai stuck in the walls and the damage. Where was Neji?

"Stupid." a comment from the left. Ino tilted her head. A chuunin exams Neji stood resplendent in his own chuunin exam.

"What?" Ino asked as she stood up. She was still herself, older, taller.

"You are. You have no business being here" He told her simply.

Ino eyes narrowed. Great she was now having to deal with teenage punk Neji? Ugh, Ino wasn't being paid enough for this shit. The bitter sexually repressed Neji had told her she was going to encounter many different aspects of Neji on this fucked up mental journey. Atleast she was getting the rough ones out of the way first. Gods where the hell was Neji? Normally Ino could plot the path on this journey

"Which means what?" Ino replied.

"That you're not welcome here" He replied, walking back to the place where he had performed the juuken. He took up the stance, veins around his eyes puffing up as he summoned his clan's birthright and bloodline limit. The Pearlescent eyes flared as the Byakugan surged to life.

"That can't be true" Ino replied.

"Oh?" He said, turning.

"You heard me." Ino replied. "I wouldn't be here if you..or at least a part of you didn't want me here."

Neji smirked, that evil smile she had seen on him before when he had hurt Hinata so badly that day. "Maybe I want you to go down with me." He replied, as he began to run through the moves.

"Thats not true either." Ino replied, as she sat down on the grass.

"Really?" Neji replied sarcastically.

"Really." Ino replied back with a self satisfying smirk. "And why is that?" Neji asked as he leapt and threw kunai, training.

"Because I would be dead if you wished it. I couldn't have entered your mind and stayed here without your permission Neji. There's a part of you that's asking for help. I just don't understand your world yet."

"And you think that by parading in here, and acting like a savior, you're going to somehow save me? Chee, I think I'll take my chances alone." Neji told her.

Ino glared at the child. "Ugh. Hormones are such a bitch sometimes..." Ino groaned as she looked on the transitioning child in front of her.

"You're annoying and obviously useless. Go away." Neji told her as he executed a kata, taking out a tree in the process. Ino's eye twitched.

"No! You brought me here and you're keeping me here against my will. Now you're either going to let me pass so I can figure out where the hell the real Neji is, or I'm going to annoy you till we both die on the outside of your fucked up brain." Inon screached.

"How very mature of you. Like I said it's no skin off my back if we die." Neji replied.

Ino groaned. "Ugh. Why are you acting like a spoiled brat, Neji?!" Ino growled.

"This is my destiny, okay?" Neji snapped, tone angry and spiteful.

"No it's not okay? Okay?! You're gonna drag me down with you now and you think thats a good excuse for you to just roll over and give up? Yeah right!" Ino snapped.

"Please....just leave" Neji replied forlornly.

"Your destiny? That's right. You talked about this during the chuunin exams. How you're cursed to some crappy fate because of what happens to the Branch members of your clan" Ino said as she sifted through her own memories of that day and what was spoken.

"Don't act like you know me!" Neji snapped.

"Hyuuga Neji, branch member and kid prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. Became a jounin and later an anbu captain specializes in the Byakugan style gentle fist. You are always reserved because you don't know how to present yourself to people. You feel rejected and right now in your life your anger is how you are dealing with that rejection. You love your teammates, but you don't know how to tell them that because you still haven't forgiven yourself for how you treated them in the past, for who you were in the past and so you're trying to make it up to them by your actions which speak louder than words in your opinion anyways. I know more about you than you think."

"Do you know what the seal means?" Neji snarled, angry and lashing out at her with words as she had never seen him before.

"It means that they control everything I do. It means that if I get out of line, if I so much as make a comment, they will kill me. The seal will only disappear once I'm dead. It will eat my mind! Or whats left of it anyways. Even if I live outside of my mind I will never escape the curse of my family. And good riddance! Its my fate to die, as was my fathers"

"Your father died a hero, a savior. If you die now, you will die in shame and dishonor, a coward who couldn't even fight" Ino replied.

"So how will that be different then where I am now?" Neji snapped, but the hurt undertone in his voice could not be mistaken. Neji wasn't the only one with observation skills. Ino had learned how to read people long before and it was obvious that the angry youth in front of her had issues. She had never seen Neji like this and Ino was moved by compassion for his anger, an anger she could relate to.

"Because you represent the Hyuuga Branch members. If you roll over and die you will only fulfill their expectations of you. If you stay in the cage they made for you, you will never show them, prove to them that you can fly with your own wings, with your own strength." Ino replied, cerulean blue eyes shinning.

She bent down to Neji, who flinched as she laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't fight it" Ino replied.

Neji merely sneered and tried to get out of her reach. He couldn't fight her off. Ino smiled and ruffled his hair, making Neji only angrier as he fought her hold.

"Let me go!" Neji stuggled. "No" Ino replied, and kissed his forehead protector. Neji froze.

"You..."Neji began to turn red.

"Yup." She grinned like a cat. "Just kissed your forehead, kiddo. Right smack on the spot they burned into your forehead. I'm making up for your lost time"

Neji suddenly became shy, withdrawn. "I...I hate them for what they did....but they're my family. They are all I have left of my father."

"Thats not true" Ino replied.

Neji looked up with startled eyes. It was obvious he didn't understand. Ino sighed.

"You are what is left of your father." Ino told him as she looked at him. Neji regarded her with wide eyes which meant that what she was saying was making sense, connecting and getting through his shield of arrogance.

"He will always be a part of you, a part of your D.N.A. You carry something from him that can never be taken away from you. No one can steal your genes, so your father is always with you, can never be taken from you." Ino replied.

Neji took in the words, eying her carefully. He was looking to see if she believed what she said.

"Don't hate the main family, Neji. Show them what you can do with your abilities. If you give up now you're no better than they are. Can't you see that?" Ino asked.

Neji made no reply, the small boy appearing to weigh her words, considering them.

"You have to get up from this, Neji." Ino told him, the words coming from her own heart.

The boy was just so angry, and she remembered how that felt. She was shocked at these past variations of Neji. She had never seen him in these lights before.

"Hmm.." Neji said, as he looked thoughtful, the angry lines of hate fading from his eyes as the Byakugan faded leaving his beautiful pearlescent eyes.

"What?" Ino replied, seeing his look. "Penny for your thoughts" She told him with a grin and a wink.

"Maybe you can help after all." He said, as he looked around at the arena. "But you've got a long way to go before you can get confident that you'll win." Neji told her.

"How do I move on?" Ino asked, eying the birds that escaped from the trees. Neji caught her view and smirked.

Neji pointed to the hole in the field left from Shikamaru's battle with Temari. "Down there" He said.

Ino gulped. "Down?" as she eyed the black pit before her.

Neji nodded. "You have to go down before you can get up" He said with an arrogant smile. "If you can make it, you might have a chance. But don't be too sure." He said with a wave as he went back to his training.

"Thanks twerp. I think..." She said as she eyed the ground. She turned about to ask if there was another way when she felt a shadow on her ankle. Periwinkle blue widened in fright. Shikamaru's Kagemane no jutsu? Ino was dragged into the hole, screaming Neji's name as she fell into darkness.