Neji

"What did you do to her," I demanded, coming back to the kitchen from Hanako's room, which she refused to let anyone into.

"I encouraged her to play upon the genius she was given, just like you have," she said from sitting at the table. She was thoroughly enjoying the damage she'd done for some reason.

"She won't let me into her room or talk to me. What did you say to her?" I demanded.

"Neji, sit. We need to talk. You obviously know nothing about this girl," she told me.

"That's because I don't," I told her as I took a seat across from her.

"This girl has brilliance beyond compare," she said with excitement, "She works for the Cypher Corps. While you were sparring with your cousin, she told me all about how she 'notices' things. Or that's what she called it. This girl has a talent for pin pointing weaknesses from the get go. She knew Hitoru had injured his knee before just by noticing how he didn't step down fully on it. She noticed how you leaned away when he attacked your shoulder and figured out you had a scar there. This girl has a talent that no one has ever seen outside of renowned clans."

"What?" was my intelligent response.

"She compares herself to you and sees your genius the opposite of hers. Her genius is in analyzing situations and finding sure fire ways to take out a person in one hit, while your genius is in powerful, utilized techniques that can take out a person in one hit," she explained, "They go side by side to the same conclusion, though she seems to think her talent is ineffective because it is mere thought."

"So, what? What did you do to make her turn on us?" I asked.

"I suggested she actually attempt her one-hit, take-down strategies. She is so used to reporting back to someone who is more capable than her, that she never thought she could do it on her own. Did you see how it all came together. She had you at knife point in less than a minute," my mother told me with delight.

"You've terrified her!" I shouted, it all suddenly making sense now, "How could you do that to her! Why didn't you tell her all that before she just went ahead and did it?! She's scared of her own power now! I know she isn't very strong to begin with, but you've put her into a position where she just did what you said and let loose! She was a breath away from killing me and she didn't even know it! She's lucky she was trained enough to stop just before actually hitting me!"

My mother looked at me with shock, "You really think she didn't know she had it in her to defeat you?"

"No! She doesn't know her own limits! She stopped thinking and merely attacked! And when she realized what she was doing, she froze up and reverted to analyzing the situation. She realized what she was doing was impossible, by her standards, and lost the focus. Mother, she wasn't trained like I was. Her family doesn't train their children. She never trains at home." I told her, trying to calm down. She didn't realize what she'd done.

"You used a training technique on her that she's never been introduce to. No one has ever pushed her limits to the maximum like you did, and it scared her to see how far she could really go," rubbing my face I remembered to address her statement before Hanako ran off, "And of course she's never analyzed her own abilities. That's not what the Cypher Corps would want. They want her as clueless, weak, and powerless as possible, so that she'll keep going back to them to tell them her plans."

"That worries me then," my mother replied with a furrowed brow, "They're holding her back because of what her mind is capable of and that is unfair to her. She sees herself as this pathetic thing and I won't stand for it. Her genius is to be praised, not abused."

"That's nice of you…" came a soft voice from the entrance to the hallway. Hanako stood on her crutches with lips pursed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just…it started to all make sense when you were talking. How the Cypher Corps is using me for my plans. You proved I was capable of carrying them out when they made me feel like I couldn't, and no, I don't train at home. I don't train enough and Naruto has become too repetitive for it to challenge my skills," she said, looking at the floor, "I just want to thank you for showing me I am capable of carrying out my own plans. I can do the things I was made to think I couldn't."

"Your genius is not something useless, Hanako," my mother told her.

"It's something everyone would fear if they knew," I mentioned. Her lip quivered and I got up to help her sit down.

"I saw the way you looked at me, like I was a wild animal that could hurt you if you startled me. I didn't like being looked at like that…! People looked at Naruto like that since we were kids and it hurts…!" she sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Hanako, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," I told her, leaning down to give her a hug and let her cry on my shoulder. I should have never done that. I let my emotions slip out from all the uproar. I knew how to keep my emotions in check better than that. It was equally my fault she had run into the house with her tail between her legs with such fear. I sat down in the chair next to hers and let her cry until she felt better. After years of pent up emotion, I was almost glad every time she cried. She needed release before she exploded like the nights she came running to me for help.

"Why did you come in here in the first place?" I asked her when she calmed down, letting me wipe her face. She let me do it more willing each time.

"I wanted to say sorry for shutting you out…and I'm hungry," she murmured.

I gave a chuckle with a smirk and nodded, getting up to find something for her to eat. My mother gave me a thoughtful look, so I stopped smirking and got food for Hanako with a more monotonous manner. She always had extravagant ideas about what I thought from my facial expressions and I knew I'd never hear the end of that smirk the rest of the night once Hanako was back in her bed to rest.

Hanako

Neji offered them to me, but I declined, "I don't need the pills," I told him with a thankful smile.

"They may help you sleep better," he informed me though he put them away.

"I'll sleep just fine. I'm not weak," I insisted cheerfully, reaching out to turn off the side table lamp.

He grabbed my hand to stop me and gave me a serious look, "I'm not saying you are. I'm saying I know from experience that the pain medication will help you sleep through the throbbing soreness from just moving today."

Glancing to my foot, I nodded. I should have known he'd see I was in a constant pain even if most of the time I could push it out of my mind and continue on with the day. So I took the pills he gave me and laid down. Sleep was almost immediate but I remember reminding Neji not to forget to turn off the light before slipping off.