Giving Back - Chapter Two

Neji's POV

Someone was shaking me and my eyes opened a little. The sun was shining so brightly, I barely saw anything. Only a blurry blond patch outlined in front of me, so I blinked a little, cleaning my vision.

'Ah… Naruto' I grabbed his hand to stop him before he could make me vomit. 'What are you doing here?' I asked half consciously. He just glared at me.

'What am I doing here? Neji, are you alright?' seeing his worried face, I slowly realised what was happening, and sat up quickly. Just then I saw a circle of people looking down at us.

'Stay still, we've already sent for a medical nin-'

'I don't have time for this' I interrupted him, and quickly left the crowd and the confused Naruto behind. I needed a bath, clean clothes and find out what to do. Mostly find that out!

*AH…AAH…CHOOOOO!*

So I've got a cold too. My clothes were wet from the rain, so collected all of the dirt from the ground. I was sure, I looked horrible. I turned left, and walked across the garden, while speeded my pace. Only twenty meters left, and I could step into the Hyuga house. Ten meters. Five meters.

'Why. So. Hurry.' a deep voice hit my ears from behind and my foot immediately stopped in the air. Seeing him wasn't necessary for knowing who that was. I felt like a mouse, catched by the cat...

'Hyuga Elder' I turned toward him slowly and bowed. The old man was still, as always, looked down at me with all of his usual superiority. Not a person, you would call your granddad. I realised, I'd not answered yet. 'I've just… finished my training, my lord.' he wrinkled his forhead for my words. 'So early?' I swallowed. 'Who told you're allowed to stop?'

*silence*

Then his gaze landed on my appearance. 'You get an hour.' he said dryly, turning away and continued his walk, not waiting for my insignificant response.

I exhaled.

An hour, a shower and some cup of hot macha later I was standing in the middle of my room, squeezing the little bottle and felt my anger growing. The sentences of that bastard were still clearly circling in my head. I also remembered his last words about Lady Hinata, and as my rage reached that level, I hit the ground with all of my human strength, breaking the lath in two pieces.

*BOOM*

Just a moment later, a silent knock sounded from the doorway. I stood up and saw Hinata pushing her head inside. 'N-Neji-kun, ar-are you feeling g-good?' she asked shyly, looking down. I smiled at her and just told it was an accident. She nodded before leaving, but turned back for a word. 'W-would you like to… uhm… train w-with me today?' she played with her fingers nervously. She was so innocent, I couldn't allow anybody to hurt her. No way.

'I'm afraid, Lady Hinata, I promised it to my teammates earlier. Maybe tomorrow?' she nodded again, and with a last smile, left me alone. I exhaled finally, and felt my cheeks burning. Oh, God, how could I say to anybody, that my whole chakra was somehow… stolen? I was as weak as a single leaf in the stormy wind. I could get it back, yeah…

But the price… How could I do that with Keyko?!

I looked at the purple bottle again. The shiny liquid was like a million little stars. Too beautiful appearance for a deadly thing like this! As it was told, this fluid would steal Keyko's power – as mine earlier – and my job was only making her drink it. Nothing more. Small price for my precious Byakugan…

But with Keyko, it was different. I was just not able to do something like this with her. To betray her. To make her sad and weak. She was probably the only living creature in the world I was caring about, next to my clan. Her power was legendary, that's why other villages tried to acquire it again and again, what made her suffer, of course. She told me once, she was feeling like a lamb between hungry wolves.

I said then I would protect her, but she was just laughing at me, and told me to mind my own business. That kind of humor was what I liked so much in her. Sometimes I wondered why she'd never left my mind, but I guess, it was because of her abilities. The Nyzora clan owned the most amazing Kekkei Genkai, after all, more powerful than the Byakugan and Sharingan together.

Keyko Nyzora was a worthy opponent.