A/N: Sorry everyone, lots of distractions this summer. First I wrote a whole chapter dedicated to Neji and it was going to be posted on his birthday which was July 3, but I was writing it on the way to Cali. I went to save it but the laptop stopped working and then my stepdad left and took the laptop and the info I had and that sucked. Next there was summer camp with my youth group from church, BTW it was camp cedar crest at big Bear Mountain in California if you were there let me know, I was on the yellow team. I just got back on august 1st. now, I shall try again, after all, third time is the charm right? Wait I also went to see my bro. and as an addition, I have school and just got done with a three day anime Vegas trip that got over with Sept. 1st.Oh yeah, some of the ideas came from me finishing my ultimate ninja 3 game, Hurray! This chapter is NOT in versions but it is long.

Neji: if this is dedicated to me, please get on with it

Yuki-sui: aw c'mon, you know what I've been through

Neji: yeah, whatever

Yuki-sui: no Neji san, not whatever. You know how I get distracted easily, plus, my meds are off track.

Sakura: she's right Neji; some forms of epilepsy can do that.

Yuki-sui: Sakura... don't tell them, Bya Kun won't like me now and Sasuke will think I'm weak 3C

Sasuke and Byakuya: it's ok, but can you just write the fic.

Yuki-sui: oh ok anything for you two X3 (jingle, end commercial)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or bleach or the characters

Chapter 5: Neji's tears and troubles

Neji was standing on the rooftop of the Yamanaka house near the Hokage mansion. This was his spot, the spot where he could be alone and pander things going through his head, and today there was a lot on his mind. He started to think about the encounter he had the previous day.

Flashback--

Neji walked Ten-ten to the front gate of the Hyuga estate. "Thank you for visiting me again Ten-ten." He said as he took her in his arms.

"Neji… It's always nice to see you." She replied with a smile on her face that said "I wish I could stay."

He let go of her and put a hand behind her head and said in a gentle and tender voice, "Ten-ten, be careful on your way home, maybe I should go with you." He was worried, like always, and overprotective.

She giggled a bit "Neji, why are you always like this?"

"What are talking about Ten-ten?" he said, a bit surprised

"You're so overprotective, I mean being overprotective of Hinata and Hanabi I understand, but why me. Neji I'm able to protect myself." She said.

"Ten-ten, something's not right today, but if you're sure that you'll be ok than I won't stop you." He said as he gave her a peck on the forehead after removing her headband to do so "I hope to see you when you get back from your mission." He added as she left. He then noticed a strange presence and quickly turned on his Byakugan and turned around only to be in shock. "I…I'm seeing things. I can't…you can't…possibly…father?" was all he managed to say before his father's hand was on his shoulder.

"Neji, I'm sorry for leaving you, but I'm proud. You've come so far. You are a true genius and would have made a great main-house leader in our family, but now the branch family needs your guidance and leadership, promise me that you will not hold this grudge any longer." He announced with tears.

Neji gave a nod and had to hold back his own tears, he could not cry in front of his father, he had to be strong. "I promise father. I said proudly to his father. At this point he was beginning to shed unwanted tears, the thought of seeing; even speaking to his father was difficult to do without crying.

"Good-bye Neji, I hope it take a while before I see you again. Make me proud, son." He said walking back over to Uryuu and receiving the konso.

End flashback--

Neji looked up to the sky with heavy tears in his eyes, "Father, thank you. I promise, I will make proud." He whispered as he saw not 7 or 8 birds, but many black butterflies fly off. He then walked off to the edge of the rooftop and jumped down, zigzagging in between the wall on the way down so is to have a gentle landing. When he came out from the ally, he noticed Rukia and Orihime looking around a few blocks down by the Nara house.

-- Rukia and Orihime --

"Hey Rukia, I know we're looking for Neji, but do you think we could sit and have some tea first?" Orihime said

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. I think I remember coming across a teashop when I was out earlier." Rukia said as she recalled the events from earlier that day. ((Remember how she was just coming in when Naruto asked about Gigai's))

-- Rukia's flashback

Rukia walked down the village street, in her new gigai, as she headed back to the infirmary after handing her shift over to Renji. She was half way there when she saw Urahara and Yoruichi over at a tea and dango shop talking to one of the village konoichi, who seemed to be quite cheerful in a tomboy sort of way. Actually she was a lot like Yoruichi, who was in a gigai that made her look almost exactly like the konoichi, and full of spunk. She wore a light brown trench coat over a mesh jump suit and a short beige skirt. Her dark lavender hair was tied up in a small fountain pony around her neck was a thin rope with a small claw shaped pendent. Urahara had a gigai similar to Kakashi but instead of a headband he wore a metal plate with the Konoha symbol on his right shoulder and wore his "special" hat tilted slightly to the right.

She walked over to the shop, "hey Urahara, where'd you set that stupid shop of yours, I need some mod souls."

They looked over at her "aww… Rukia, well you see… I haven't been able to… set up the shop yet. Because well… I have nowhere to put it." Kisuke said slowly, and ending it with a bit of a child like perky tone.

Rukia just stared at him with a face that said "you've had all day, pick your lay rear up and find one"

Yoruichi than spoke up "Rukia, Ichigo's shift is next right?" she asked

"Well yeah, that's why we need mod souls, we're all in gigai's now and he's going to need one." She replied with a no duh attitude.

Yoruichi reached in her pocket and pulled out two items. One was a soul candy and the other was an old stuffed lion plush toy with a blue cross on the back of its head. "Sorry there separate right now, I didn't think he'd shut up if I left him in there."

"Actually, I'm glad he's like that," she said take both the candy and the plush toy. "You kept him for 11 years?" she said, a bit surprised.

"Alright, I'm confused. I understand what you said about being shinigami and all that, I think, but what the heck are a mod souls and a gigai? What's with the candy and the plush lion?" said the konoichi with a mix of confusion and attitude.

Rukia sighed and took out her notebook and markers as she began doodling, "A gigai is sort of like a temporary body, but when we need to go back on patrol we eat what's called a soul candy which contains a modified soul, or mod soul, that keeps our gigai mobile. As for the lion plush, it's just how my friend used to carry around, Kon, his mod soul." She explained as the konoichi looked at the doodles.

"He hey, those are pretty good. I get it. So why do you like it better outside the lion if that's how you carry it." Said the konoichi as she chomped on a dango.

"Because he's a lousy, annoying, little perv." She said as she stuffed the candy in her pocket. "So, what's your name?"

"Anko Mitarashi, and you?" She replied with a bit of perky spunk.

"Rukia Kuchiki of squad 13, and these two here are Yoruichi Shihoin and Kisuke Urahara." She said as she introduced herself and the others.

"Nice ta meet ya, hey you wouldn't by chance have come across a jounin around my age, his name is Kakashi Hatake and is always wearing a mask and uses his headband to cover his right eye." Anko said as she took out an agenda.

"Oh, yeah. Kakashi san, he's in the infirmary. He was helping us with an assignment, but I hear Sakura chan is a good medic so he should be fine comes this evening." Said Rukia as she waved goodbye.

-- End Rukia's flashback

"So, where is the tea shop Rukia?" Orihime asked again as they passed the Nara house.

Rukia turned around to see the Amaguriama dango and tea shop "that's it, the Amaguriama, let's go eat dangos." she said as she pulled Orihime by the arm.

"Rukia chan, stop!" yelled Orihime as she struggled to get loose.

"I thought we were going to wait here for Neji san though?" she said as she continued on.

"Why, wait, I'm right here." Said Neji from behind them.

"Oh, Neji san, we were going have some tea and dangos." Rukia said, still eager for dangos.

"We can have some Amaguriama later, right now I need to pick up a dinner order from the Shushuya, not to mention Naruto's usual 30 bowls of Ichiraku ramen." Neji said as he walked off to Ichiraku and motioned for the two girls to follow.

"Neji san, how are you going to pay for all of this, and what do you mean thirty bowls of ramen?" Rukia questioned as her and Orihime followed him.

"Naruto has a ramen obsession, he eats at least 30 bowls per trip to Ichiraku. As for the money, I volunteered to get the meals do to the fact that I could afford the expanses, I spoke with your brother and it seems we have similarities in our families. I'm the head of the Hyuuga branch family, so not only can I afford it but I get discounts every now and then." He said as they arrived in the ramen shop.

"hello Neji san, Temari chan was here earlier with some friends, I here Naruto kun got himself into a real fix. I assume you're here to pick up some ramen for him." Ayame said as Neji and the girls sat down.

"Yeah, he's pretty trashed. I thought I'd get him a little something to get him back on his feet. I see your dads not here, is he taking the day off?" Neji asked as he took out his wallet.

"Yeah he's having some back problems. So, 30 bowls of ramen, how about half price today." She offered with a slight smile, yes she hated Naruto's habit of changing her perfectly made tenzaku (I don't think I got it correct but that's supposed to be the noodles that come with broth on the side so that you dip it please send the correct name for it if you know it) into actual ramen, but this time she decided to just straight out make his good ol' Miso pork ramen.

"It seems everyone in town knows his order well enough to surprise him with it flawlessly." He joked, though it was very hard to tell do to his stoic tone and expression.

"Well I'll get right to it, would you ladies like anything by the way?" she asked as she turned around from being half through the door of the kitchen.

"No thank you Ayame san. We just came too tag along, besides Naruto kun is the one who's hurt not us." Orihime said with a smile, knowing that Neji needed to pick up they're order at Shushuya.

"tee-hee, alright then, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were Sakura chan." She giggled as she went into the kitchen.

Neji sighed a bit and Orihime looked over at him, "Neji san, what's wrong?"

"Hinata hime and Naruto san were supposed to take a jounin exam today, I was sure they'd pass. When he remembers he's going to be quite upset, but when my uncle finds out that Hinata hime not only missed, but failed the exam, he won't acknowledge her for a while after that and she'll be unquestionably saddened." He said, recalling the current exam that was now taking place.

"Your uncle, why would he be angry with Hinata chan?" She replied with slight confusion.

"Hiashi sama, her father and head of the main house in our family, he's never actually acknowledged her much until a few years ago." Neji explained.

"So basically, Hinata chan is the heiress to the main family, and her father thinks she's too weak for the position?" Rukia said to be sure she was correct.

"Yes, she's always been so gentle and timid. At one time, I was so resentful of the fact she was the heiress to the main house that I nearly killed her. But now, well, Ten-ten says I'm overprotective of her, Hinata, and Hinata's little sister Hanabi." He said a bit down as he tried to cheer himself up with his last statement.

Suddenly, Ayame stepped out with two bags of ramen each had 15 bowls and 2 bentos of onigiri. "I heard you talking about Hinata chan and Naruto kun missing the exam. I thought these would help cheer them up, so there you are, 30 bowls of Miso pork ramen for half price and 4 bentos of 8 onigiri on me." She said her and Neji exchanged food for money.

"Arigato gozai masu Ayame chan." Neji said as he gave a small bow and they left for Shushuya.

At Shushuya:

At Shushuya, while they were waiting for their order, they saw two 15 year old chunins. One was a boy with messed up spiky, light brown hair and (I forgot his eye color so I'll say) green eyes. He wore a long green scarf and a beige jacket with a Konoha leaf on the back along with black pants and shinobi sandals. He also wore a Konoha headband on his forehead, and a pair of goggle atop his head. The other was a girl with long black hair and violet white eyes, they were much like Neji and Hinata's, which showed she was a Hyuuga. She too wore a Konoha headband, but around her neck which allowed her forehead to show signs that she was part of the main family, for there was no mark. She wore a short sleeved black top with the Hyuuga crest on the back. She also wore a short, black, knee-high, konoichi cut skirt with black fishnet leggings and shinobi sandals. They were at a booth, sharing a Sunday and Neji was starting to get angry as he overheard their conversation.

"This was a wonderful 10 month anniversary dinner Maru kun. I wish I could tell nee chan." Said the young konoichi as she put down her spoon and rested her chin in her hand and gazed in his eyes, though she was most likely talking about a dating anniversary.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it Hana chan, but you know we can't let them in on it." He said as he too put his spoon in the half empty bowl. And place some ryou in the bill folder.

"Yeah, I know. Hey Maru kun, that bill was pretty high, is there a way I can repay you for the meal?" she said softly as she gazed a bit deeper into his eyes.

The last sentence caught immediate notice and attention of both Neji and the young teen boy. The boy was amused and entertained, Neji on the other hand was so mad that he was clenching his fists so hard they bled and jumped straight at him. He gripped the boy by the collar of his shirt and pinned him to the wall, knocking over the table as the bowl of ice cream fell to floor.

"Don't you even think about touching her!" he shouted out of pure anger. He then glanced down at the konoichi. "You should know better Hanabi hime, the only reason I'm not telling your father about this is because he'd kill me for letting it happen, as for telling your sister, that I will do. Do you have any idea how foolish that was?" he lectured.

"Neji nii san, please don't hurt Maru kun it was my idea not his. Please don't tell Hinata nee chan." She pleaded as she began to cry.

He turned on his Byakugan and glared at frightened look on the boys face. "This is probably the first time in my life that I've wished I were an Uchiha. Konohamaru Saratobi, I will be watching you from now on, and I will be telling Naruto, Iruka sensei, and Ebisu sempai about this." He threatened in an acidic, yet smooth tone. Neji then placed him back down in his chair.

Rukia and Orihime then stepped over to them, "So your Hinata chan's little sister?" Rukia asked.

"Of course I am, everyone in Konoha should know that." Hanabi stated with a small amount of pride.

Orihime looked over at Neji "I think Ten-ten was right Neji kun, you are very overprotective. I mean dating is common among teens, and it was just a dinner." she said, completely unaware of the actual problem, which Neji decided not to tell her.

Konohamaru suddenly gave a light chuckle as he had just noticed something, "Now that think about it, Naruto sempai told me that you said the same thing to him when he started going out with Hinata chan. That means I don't really have anything to be scared of, and if you were an Uchiha right now you wouldn't even be related to Hana chan so you would have no reason to be mad." He argued.

Neji just sighed as he received the order from a waitress, which was also two bags worth, and turned to leave as he shut off his Byakugan, "Whatever, we need to go now. Hanabi hime, be careful." He said stoically as they left. 'Damn, I feel like Hiashi sama is trying to kill me now. This has way to much stress for one day.' He thought do to his throbbing headache.

Back in the infirmary:

The three of them arrived at the infirmary fifteen minutes later. When they walked in they saw Kiba sitting on the floor by Shikamaru's bed, petting a sleeping Akamaru. Sakura was with Sasuke who was just waking up, and Kakashi was re-reading Ichi-ichi Paradise there was no sequel to Ichi-ichi Tactics after Jiraiya died. Temari and Rangiku sat on the other side of Shikamaru's bedside buzzed from sake that they were still working on while Toushiro, Byakuya, and Uryuu disused their status situation over in the corner. Ichigo, for some reason, was giving the phone a blank stare that looked like he was trying to decide whether to use it or not. The last thing they noticed was Naruto nuzzled up on Hinata's shoulder as she had an arm wrapped around to his left shoulder and giggle every time he would whisper something to her.

Neji nearly dropped the bags to the ground as he stamped over to him. "What do you think you're doing Naruto? I spend nearly half my wallet on your ramen, just to find you lying on Hinata hime's shoulder."

"C'mon Neji , I can't feel my arm and I just found out… wait did you say Ramen?" he said as he was about to mention his new job, but instead caught notice of not only the word ramen in his sentence, but the smell coming from the bag.

Neji calmed himself when he noticed he was overreacting. He then went over to retrieve the Ichiraku bags on the floor and brought them back over to Naruto. "I thought it might make you feel a little better, there's also some onigiri in there for Hinata hime and yourself." He said, handing him the bags of ramen.

Naruto was aware by now that they had missed the exam and decided best not to say anything about it in front of Hinata. "Thanks Neji, I'm sorry you had to spend half your wallet." He said as he grabbed some ramen and handed Hinata one of the onigiri bentos.

"By the way, I found Konohamaru san and Hanabi hime on a date at Shushuya." Neji said suddenly.

"We know, Naruto kun gave him the money for the dinner when he met up with Konohamaru after catching them on their last date, Hanabi doesn't know about it though." Hinata explained as she grabbed an onigiri.

"I'm not too keen on the idea, but if you're ok with it I can try to support the idea." He said as he went to grab his Shushuya bento.

Meanwhile, at the same time--

"What is that, it's as big as a horse?" Orihime said as she ran over to Kiba and Akamaru with her bento.

Rukia went over to sit with Ichigo with her two bentos, "What's wrong Ichigo, you look depressed." She said, hand him his bento.

He received the bento and opened it up, "I just realized, I've never actually used a gigai. To me, it's like, well it's difficult." He said as he poked at his food with his chopsticks.

"You miss your family don't you." She stated as she placed a hand on his back, for he was in a slouched position.

"Yeah, I was fine with it till now. This gigai reminds me of what it's like to be alive, reminds me of that idiot Kon, and since we're in this particular location rather then what we're used to I can't even call them." He said as he stabbed his tempura with his chopsticks out of frustration.

Rukia reached into her pocket, "at least I can help part of that." She said as she stuffed the candy in the lion plush's mouth and quickly shoved it on Ichigo.

"Rukia chan!" he shouted as he tried to get to Rukia.

Everyone stared at the little lion. "Shut up Kon!" Ichigo demanded as he gripped the plush by the neck.

AN: ok, I'm done. September 16 2008. Hope you enjoyed. Please review. I need both flames and ideas. Also, if you were either at camp cedar crest this summer or were at Anime Vegas 2008 please e-mail me or pm me on (Gaia) (username: hakumeikitushana) or () two new people will introduced in the next chapter, but only one name will be mentioned, you have to guess the other, tee-hee. Here's a hint though, he's a shinobi that every fan girl luvs (not gaara).

Arigato gozai masu

Jingle, begin commercial.

Chuu 3