Hey, me again.
I own absolutely nothing mentioned in this story, though I wish I had some chocolate!
Hinata walked down the hall after having a talk with the doctor. She was in charge of Neji, as she was second nearest of kin, and her father was busy with more pressing matters.
The doctor had just finished telling her that it was possible that his speech area of the brain had gotten damaged. Tsunade would be there shortly to try to repair any brain damage possible. Hinata hoped that it would all be fixable, but the odds of that were low, so she tried not to get her hopes too high.
She opened the door to Neji's room. He'd been having trouble moving, so she was very surprised to find he wasn't in his bed. He was standing at the window.
She ran over, holding her arms out, as if she expected him to fall.
" Neji! What are you doing?!"
He truned his head slowly towards her. Then he turned his head slowly back to look out the window. Hinata looked out and saw nothing significant. She looked back at Neji. He was still staring out the window. She tried to follow his gaze.
That's when she saw it. He was watching a group ducks killing off another duck. They were going after it's neck, and it's white feathers were quickly turning red. If they managed to reach it's spinal cord, as they seemed intent on doing, it would be unable to move, and would probably die. Hinata looked back at Neji. His face was solemn, and he was watching what was happening very closely.
" Neji, why are they killing him?"
Neji shook his head and kept watching, but Hinata turned away. It was grotesque, and it was ugly, but worst of all, it reminded her of her own family. She wondered if that's what Neji was thinking about as he watched.
After a couple minutes, Neji turned away from the window, and slowly and painstakingly made his way towards his bed. Hinata helped him most of the way, and she wondered how he had ever gotten across the room by himself in the first place. He could barely walk. She settled him back in bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, to try and make him comfortable.
Neji pushed at the covers, and she pulled them back down. He pushed himself up slowly, then leaned against the headboard. Hinata smiled at him. If it made him feel better, he could sit up. She'd be right to catch him if he fell. He pointed weakly towards the paper and pen. She handed them to him. He again wrote painstakingly.
I shall sit up.
She nodded, to show him both that she understood, and that she agreed. She waited as he wrote something else.
Thanks.
She nodded again, this time with more of a smile.
" You're welcome, Neji."
Neji gave her a slight smile. He bent down to write again, but was interrupted, so to speak, by two loudmouths in green jumpsuits, and another lunatic yelling at them to be quiet. Also known as Lee, Gai, and Tenten. He winced at the loud noise.
Tenten came walking over, her face of utter annoyance melting into one of cheerfulness and concern. She was amazing like that.
" How are you doing, Neji?"
She waited as Neji slowly wrote on his paper. He could have probably just as easily given her a thumbs up, but the Hyuuga prodigy never used those sort of signs, and he wasn't about to start now. He held up the piece of paper.
I'm holding up.
' That's because he hasn't heard the bad news yet.' Hinata thought guiltily to herself. Tenten grinned at Neji. She patted him on the shoulder.
" That's good to know, we need you in Team Gai."
Her face changed back to her look of utter annoyance, as she hissed:
" Those lunatics are driving me crazy!!"
Neji smiled again. He probably would be driven nuts, too, if he didn't have Tenten on the team. She was the only other semi-sane person on their team. Lee shoved chocolates onto Neji's lap.
" Here Neji! I know how much you love chocolate!!"
Neji grabbed his paper again and began writing. He took a little longer this time. Lee kept trying to peek, but he pretty soon realised that would make Neji take longer, since everytime he tried, Neji held the paper to his chest. Finally, he held it in Lee's face.
You're an idiot, Lee, and I hate it.
Tenten laughed. As did Hinata. Lee was the only one who didn't find this funny, other than Gai, of course, who'd been distracted by Neji's chart. In fact, Gai had on a rather serious face. He looked up at Neji when he was finished reading. Then, as suddenly as he had the serious look, a smile popped on his face. He struck the good guy pose.
" Don't worry Neji, you're gonna be fine!"
Neji, of course, was not comforted by this, and merely made a weird face. A nurse came in.
" I'm sorry, but are you family? Only family is allowed right now."
Gai smiled at the nurse.
" We are not his family, but he is on our team!"
The nurse didn't so much as bat an eyelash.
" I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You can come back after the surgery."
Gai nodded and herded out Tenten and Lee, who were both protesting, Lee more loudly and Tenten more logically.
" Goodbye Neji! See you after you surgery!"
Gai called before he left.
Neji looked over at Hinata. His look clearly said Surgery?! What surgery?!
Hinata took a deep breath and prepared herself to recite what the doctor had told her...she could only hope he wouldn't react too badly.
Review if you want more! If you think that was too light-hearted or whatever, let me know and I'll make more depressing, but it's hard to make team Gai depressing. Don't worry, I've got some good stuff coming up.
And the duck thing actually happened in my life, but not as dramatically. We were actually about to head in for dinner, and all the other ducks decided to cross our path killing this one other duck. I wasn't too hungry, needless to say.