CHAPTER NI (TWO): LET THE GAME TO WIN NEJI'S HEART BEGIN!
Part 1: New competitors
"I don't want to play!" Neji whined once again.
"Ne-chan, please stop complaining." Hinata-sama replied. "It'll be fun, I promise." She put her hands on her "sister's" to reassure him.
"B-but-" Neji attempted to start, but was rudely interrupted by the screaming of a boy.
"No way!" the boy screamed. "A real live princess!"
The boy ran over to Neji and leaned close to his face, causing him to feel uncomfortable. This boy had blonde spiky hair and sky blue eyes, and he seemed to be rather troublesome.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing to her, baka!" Kiba scolded and formed a fist. "She's mine!"
"N-naruto-kun," Hinata-sama stuttered while twiddling her fingers.
"Sasuke glared at the blonde. What an idiot, he thought.
"Eh?" Naruto replied dumbly, turning his face to him. He then laughed hysterically.
"What's so funny, huh?" Kiba asked annoyed.
"What's funny is that you think you actually own her!" Naruto smirked.
"What did you just say?"Kiba answered.
Naruto turned to Neji, even closer now, ignoring Kiba.
"Oujo-sama are you really Kiba's?" he asked seriously.
"I belong to no one!"Neji replied nervously.
"She's mine." Sasuke automatically filled in." I'm the one that saved her after all."
"Oi, teme, don't get so cocky." Naruto replied sticking out his tongue and hugging Neji tightly.
Both Kiba and Sasuke were at their limits and Hinata-sama stopped them.
"Naruto-kun, if you want to be Ne-chan's prince you have to play the game with us." Hinata-sama stated.
"A game? What game?" he asked interested.
"Hinata!" Kiba whined. "Don't get that idiot involve d in this."
"But it's only natural that the princess has more than two choices at least" Hinata-sama began.
"Let go of me." Neji cried."I can't breathe." Naruto had gotten a little too carried away in his hug and he let go immediately.
"Are you okay? Ne-chan?" he asked Neji, worried. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to."
"You loser!" Sasuke spat coldly. He ran over to Neji and rubbed his back.
"Hey, she was mine,teme!" Naruto quickly shouted.
"N-naruto-kun." Hinata –sama frowned.
"Don't leave things unattended." Sasuke teased evilly.
Naruto gritted his teeth and they both started fighting over Neji, pulling each of his arms until he got dizzy.
"Stop! "Neji pleaded.
"She's mine, I found her before you." Sasuke argued while pulling Neji's right arm.
"Well I hugged her first!" Naruto replied while also pulling Neji's left arm.
"Hinata promised to give her to me, therefore, making her mine!"Kiba yelled joining in the fight and tugging on to his dress from the behind.
"You guys, the winner will win Ne-chan so play the game." Hinata-sama tried to reason.
"Did someone say game?" A boy exclaimed and hopped right into their little circle. The boy's smile blinded everyone's eyes. This boy had jet black hair and very bushy eye brows.
"Go away, Bushy-Brows." Naruto said rolling his eyes. He was determined to win against Sasuke and Kiba. And for some reason Sasuke had pissed him off the most.
"Yes, we're playing a game to win Ne-chan's heart; the winner gets to be her prince."
"A game of love?" the boy asked anxiously." I want to play!"
"U-um, okay." Hinata-sama replied unsure. "What's your name?"
" Rock Lee desu!" Lee smiled holding a "thumbs up" sign.
"What kind of name is that?" Naruto asked raising an eye-brow.
"Don't make fun of my name, dummy!" Lee snapped.
Neji sighed. I want to go home and take off this stupid dress! He thought. Neji had reached his limit, and he was still in the clutches of Sasuke and Naruto. He could barely move for crying out loud!
"Since when was he allowed to join?" Kiba scolded Hinata-sama." I was the only candidate!"
"I met her before you." Sasuke repeated giving him an evil stare. Kiba noticed a dark aura forming around the Uchiha, but he wasn't scared one bit.
"You wanna fight? Huh?" Kiba asked while cracking his knuckles." The last one standing wins."
"This isn't the game I was talking about!" Hinata-sama squealed. Even she was incapable of stopping this.
"Wo-chaaa!" Lee yelled as he, Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke began to attack each other.
Hinata-sama and Akamaru couldn't bear to watch. Neji was, however, saved. He could finally feel his arms again. Just when he was about to heave a sigh of relief, someone had caught him by the waist.
"W-wha-" Neji began, with widened eyes. Who was it that caught him by surprise? It definitely wasn't Hinata-sama because she was right before his eyes, and it also wasn't the other boys either because they were too busy fighting over a non-existent princess.
"Aya-sama!"The boy yelled in admiration."Aya-oujo –sama!"
"Eh?"
"I can't believe it's really you!" The boy grinned widely. He looked a little older, perhaps 5 or 6. The boy had shoulder length black hair and sharp hazel eyes. He held a book about fairy tales in one hand and had his other around Neji's waist.
"What do you think you're doing?" Neji finally asked trying to push him off. The boy didn't seem to budge." Hinata-sama, help!" he called, but she seemed to be busy stopping the others.
"Ah! Sumimasen" The boy apologized. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Utakata, I'm new here."
"What does this have to do with you squeezing me like this?" Neji blushed.
"Ah! That!"Utakata giggled. "You look just like Princess Aya-sama from my book, maybe even prettier!"
Utakata let go of Neji to show him what he meant. He opened the book to the page where this Aya-sama was drawn. Aya-sama had big lavender eyes that sparkled like the stars, just like Neji's, she had long brown hair as well, that she wore a tiara over. Aya-sama wore a traditional Japanese kimono that was a light shade of pink and her lips were painted a ruby red.
"The resemblance is amazing, right?" Utakata asked.
"I look nothing like her!"Neji protested.
"That isn't true."Utakata pouted.
Before Neji could answer, the fighting broke out even louder.
"Who the hell made you boss?!" They heard Naruto yell.
"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, loser, don't question me."Sasuke replied.
"I was the first candidate before any of you!"Kiba joined.
"I'm going to win no matter what!" Lee shouted and jumped on them.
"That's cheating, teme!"Naruto protested.
"N-naruto-kun,Kiba-kun,Sasuke-kun,Lee-kun, please stop!"Hinata-sama begged.
Akamaru barked in agreement.
"What's going on over there?"Utakata asked, amused.
"They're fighting over me." Neji sighed. "But I don't want any of them."
"Oh? That looks fun!" he winked.
"Then go join them." Neji ordered while rolling his eyes." I'm leaving."
"No, don't leave Aya-sama!" Utakata pleaded tugging onto Neji's dress. "Let's go play somewhere else then."
"Play what?"
"I know!" he said. "Let's go play on the swings, I'll push you."
Neji grinned. The swings were his favorite part of the park and he didn't even get to try them.
"Okay!" he agreed. They both ran off towards the swings.
Meanwhile:
"Ne-chan, just choose one of us already!" Kiba demanded while he was pinching Naruto's cheek.
"Ow-ow-ow!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke had already beaten Lee and was making his way towards Kiba and Naruto.
"Ne-chan?" Hinata-sama wondered, looking for her cousin."N-ne-chan's gone!"
"What?!" The boys said at once.
"Where did she go?" Naruto asked worried.
Sasuke was also worried, he wondered if the bullies from earlier took her.
"This is all your fault,teme!"Kiba accused Naruto." What'll you do if something happens to her,huh?"
"My fault?" Naruto asked confused. "Why is it always me?"
Naruto sighed. He was always to blame for everything, he was a burden and an easy target and he hated it.
"Look!" Lee addressed. He pointed towards the swings were a boy was swinging, Neji and he had the happiest smile on his face.
"That guy stole Ne-chan!" Kiba gasped.
"Let's get him back" Lee announced.
If anyone, it's going to be me that saves her again, Sasuke thought. The boys all rushed to the swings.
"Oi, teme, hand over Ne-chan back to us!" Naruto demanded recklessly.
Utakata just stared at him and remained pushing a happy Neji on the swing.
The boys were all dazzled by Neji's sweet smile, you could say it was love at first sight.
"Aya-sama seems happier with me, so no." he answered coldly.
"Aya-sama?" Kiba questioned.
"Why, you" Naruto warned. "If you won't give her back we'll take her by force if we have to."
Hinata-sama's eyes widened in admiration. Naruto-kun is acting exactly like a prince, and all the other princes are joining forces against the villain. Sugoi! She thought. It was exactly the kind of play she'd wanted, but she never had enough people to play before. This was perfect.
"By force?" he asked." She doesn't even want any of you."
"What do you know?" Sasuke replied casually." She'd naturally choose the first person she meets because that's just how fairy tales are. I'm the winner, so hand her over."
"That's right hand her over." Naruto agreed. "Hey wait, what did you say?" he asked finally realizing what he'd agreed to.
"You're too slow idiot!" Sasuke admitted.
Neji could care less about what was going on, because he was in heaven right now, at least he was swinging to it. It felt like he could fly, Neji put out one of his hands to the sky and smiled. I wish I could be free, he thought. When the birds flew past, he imagined himself as a bird.
Just then his fantasies had stopped because Utakata had stopped pushing him.
"Utakata-san, why did you stop?" Neji pouted. He then turned to see 4 angry boys glaring at Utakata.
"Just give me a second before I continue." Utakata replied, positioning himself to fight.
"Oi, what're you doing?" Neji gasped. "Stop fighting already! I'm tired of this."
"Ne-chan…" Hinata-sama said.
The boys all automatically stopped what they were doing when they heard their precious demand to do so.
"Ne-chan, we're sorry!" Naruto cried hugging Neji tightly and sobbing on his shoulder.
"If we're going to do this fairly, we might as well play the game." Neji sighed.
"Mhm!" Hinata agreed." I'll explain the rules, you can join too." Hinata-sama said pointing to Utakata.
"Not him too."Kiba moaned.
"I'll be asking questions and each of you will try to answer." Hinata started.
"What kind of questions?" Naruto asked concerned.
"Ones that are obviously hard, oujo-sama isn't an easy prize after all."Kiba stated.
"Hmph." Sasuke simply said.
"I will win no matter what!" Lee announced.
"Sounds interesting." Utakata smirked." I'm in."