"AHOO!" Neji let out a great sneeze as he and his team mates walked home in the late evening of a Saturday, trotting through the snow that layered the streets of the village.
"Bless you, Neji," Lee politely said to his team mate, glancing over from beside Tenten at the oak haired man that was rubbing his nose on his sleeve.
"Are you feeling okay? Not catching a cold are you?" Tenten teased from beside him.
"I'm fine. I'll see you both on Monday for training." Neji waved to them as they continued walking down the street to their respective homes. With a sigh he retired to his bed, welcoming the sleep that came.
It had started out as a slight tingle the next morning; an annoying itch in his nose that Neji found he couldn't shake. Eventually it had progressed to an irritating tickle that threatened to have him sneeze whenever he inhaled. By mid-afternoon the tickle had spread from his nose down to his throat, and eventually down to his lungs. By dinner that evening, Neji Hyuga was sick.
Neji was horrified. For in the fifteen years of his life, he had never caught a cold. He had had upset stomachs, fevers, and even life threatening injuries from his many missions but nothing, in all his teenage years, had made him feel the grogginess and achiness he was now experiencing all over his body. It threatened to debilitate him. But he was after all a Hyuga and even as his throat felt raw, his lungs heaved with coughs and his nose ran, there was no way he was going to let some miniscule little virus control his life.
And that was how Neji found himself staring at the label of the medicine bottle he now held in his hands Monday morning.
"Take three teaspoons of syrup every four hours as needed…" he read aloud. "Only three teaspoons? That must be some kind of precaution." Turning the bottle over in his hands, he opened the cap and instead of using a spoon, brought the bottle to his lips and took a long swig of the grape flavored medicine….
He met Tenten for training later that morning, the empty bottle tucked safely away in his knapsack. Neji was almost euphoric. He couldn't sense any of the symptoms anymore. The sore throat was gone, the irksome itch in his nose had evaporated and he hadn't coughed since drinking the syrup. That stuff was the work of miracles. In his intoxicated state, Neji did not think to wonder why, if his symptoms were gone, was he still so groggy? Why was he wobbling with each step he took to the center of the training field?
He got into his gentle fist battle pose and waited as Tenten pulled a scroll from behind her, spreading it out over her arms.
"Ready?" she called from the other side of the clearing. He nodded and she bit her thumb, summoning a dozen kunai and sending them at her team mate. Neji began to secrete chakra from his body and to spin in a circle but halfway through his turn, he faltered. His vision flickered and he swayed on his feet. He tumbled backwards into the snow, narrowly missing the kunai as they flew over his head as he fell.
"Neji! Hey, Neji! You alright?" Tenten ran over to him and kneeled at his side as his head cleared. He smiled. The symptoms were still gone…everything was fine. He looked at the kunoichi above him, and smiled even more.
"Has anyone ever told you you have beautiful eyes, Tenten?" he said as she helped him into a sitting position. She stopped and stared at him incredulously.
"Good grief Neji, what have you been drinking?"
"Cold syrup…" he answered softy.
"I see, and just how much of this medicine did you take?"
"All of it…" he said, not sensing the problem as he played with the snow beneath his hand, the ecstasy the medicine was inducing still very much present.
"All of it?" Tenten cried. Then, sighing, she pulled his arm over her shoulder and wrapped her own around his waist, pulling him to his feet before dragging him in the direction of the hospital as the snow began to fall from the grey haze of clouds above them.
"Such beautiful, beautiful eyes…" he told her again before slipping into an almost catatonic state.
"No more cold medicine for you, Hyuga…." Tenten muttered under her breath.