Author's Notes: Live! Liiiiive, damn you!

Disclaimer: Naruto + Sleyman – (Kishimoto Masashi * Fanfiction)4 = Not mine.


The highly anticipated rematch between Hyuuga Neji and Kaguya Kimimaro came after only a few days of rest. Kimimaro's arms had healed completely, no doubt thanks to Hinata's ministrations, and he trusted that Neji was no worse off, having only been bruised in their last encounter.

The gap between fights had been...uneventful. The Hyuuga Clan, as a whole, had been having difficulty in getting used to Kimimaro's presence, not that it had been any different for him. Falling into their routine of rest, eating and training had been easy enough, a welcome change to his recent illness-induced inactivity. The difficult part had been the general atmosphere of uneasiness that seemed to follow him like a mist wherever he was in the household.

Where he went quiet conversation stopped, activities paused before resuming- and always, always, the pupil-less milky-white eyes of the family followed him. Sometimes containing objective curiosity, mild indifference, or carefully hidden enmity. The chasm between the noble family and the outsider was wide- and only bridgeable, it seemed at times, by Hinata or Hiashi-sama.

Today was different altogether. It seemed like the entire clan, branch family and all, had turned out to see the "contest," as it was referred to.

The men surrounded them at a safe distance, watching with various expressions while most of the women sat on the exterior walkway of the main living quarters, a few balancing unsteady youngsters on their laps. Whether they wanted to observe Neji's fighting prowess, see the hapless interloper get a thorough beating, or simply enjoy the spectacle for what it was, they all expected to see the genius of their clan win the bout a second time.

Kimimaro couldn't decide whether to oblige or defy their expectations. He had resigned himself to fight, trying to defeat Jyuuken itself as his main goal, and that was what he would attempt to do.

At a word from Hiashi, Neji settled into his stance, took a defensive posture and waited to see what Kimimaro would do. To begin, Kimimaro decided on one of his most well-used dances, Yanagi no Mai. It was quite possible to perform without the bone spikes protruding from his palms, turning it into a claw-handed, offensively-oriented attack pattern that relied heavily on Kimimaro being faster than Neji. This he was, but not by much, so he had to try and keep him too off-balance to counter-attack.

Kimimaro adopted the stance that went with the dance. Neji's eyes narrowed, recognising the subtle insult for what it was. Using and open-palmed style against Jyuuken, widely regarded as the most powerful of all open-palmed styles, would be laughable to most Hyuuga. That he was using it in what Neji privately considered a duel did not escape notice.

He must have taken it much more seriously than he had thought, since Neji surprised him by switching to offense and quickly closing the distance between them. Taking Neji's quick-temper into account, Kimimaro shifted his footing and prepared for the assault.

The first hit came low and fast, curving up towards his rubs. He swayed aside, managed to break Neji's rhythm by hitting the inside of the offending arm, and went for his shoulder with his free hand. Neji, taken off guard by the style he had not seen Kimimaro use before, managed to lower his body enough to evade the blow to his elbow and used the downward momentum to kick out a leg and sweep it at Kimimaro's vulnerable ankle.

The kick failed to connect. Kimimaro had sprung off his feet and was somersaulting over Neji. Trusting his instincts, Kimimaro hit the ground hard and span right, narrowly avoiding a powerful palm thrust intended for the small of his back- a lethal blow for Jyuuken. Kimimaro was endlessly impressed by Neji's ability to assess the situation and formulate an adequate response. But he was now standing almost next to Neji, and his hand was already touching his throat. Neji abandoned any thought of attacking, being forced to retreat with all his might or have his throat crushed. He jumped back as hard as he could, but couldn't stop Kimimaro helping him on his way a little. It was more a miracle than anything that he didn't end up on his back. Still, Kimimaro was all over him while he tried to regain his balance.

He exploited the opening for all it was worth, landing several clean hits to Neji's face, chest and arms before he was in a position to fight back effectively. When he showed signs of recovering, Kimimaro withdrew.

A murmur of conversation broke out like a rash. The Hyuuga onlookers were talking amongst themselves in hushed voices, now that there was a gap in the fighting. Neji rubbed the base of his throat where the side of Kimimaro's hand had dug in the most during his hasty retreat and scowled. No doubt, there were now a few other places causing him more discomfort, but he must not have felt comfortable with even the possibility of having breathing problems. He looked in Hiashi's direction, asking permission for something again. Hiashi crossed his arms and frowned, denying Neji's request.

Deciding that the same tactic was unlikely to work twice, Kimimaro changed stance; Tsubaki no Mai.

Though this too was a style that was meant to incorporate a weapon, it was easy enough to adapt. The important part was the rhythm and flow of movements.

Seeing him adopt another unfamiliar stance, Neji chose to be more conservative and remained on the defensive. Kimimaro waited, just in case, until it became apparent that he had learned his lesson. This time Kimimaro would have to attack.

He began, optimistically perhaps, with a series of three feints at Neji's right eye, right knee and left shoulder before executing the first real attack, aimed at his solar plexus. A little put out by the initial lack of contact, Neji still managed to guard himself with an elbow, turning the powerful hit into a graze by the narrowest of margins. On the other hand, he had managed to effectively drop his defences for the second time, and Kimimaro was quick to exploit the opening. He stepped closer, to where it was difficult for Neji to attack him effectively, and went for his exposed stomach. Neji tensed his muscles and tried for the only area of Kimimaro's body he could reach (his head), but he failed to connect and was slowly driven back, having to use his forearms to defend his chest and face. Once more, when Kimimaro sensed a chance for Neji to counter him, he increased the distance between them- this time by kicking Neji in the stomach, sending him sliding backwards and scraping up small trails of dust with his shoes.


Neji forced himself to not drop to one knee and gritted his teeth against the pain. This was going far worse then he had expected. The two styles Kimimaro had used to great effect so far were not only quite different from one another, but were also nothing like how he had fought the last time.

'...Damn...' he muttered to himself, coming to the conclusion that Kimimaro had been intentionally hiding the full extent of his abilities in their first duel, while Neji had revealed almost all of his own secrets. That, more than anything, angered him. Focused him. Helped him ignore the pain.

He wanted so badly to use Kaiten to rebuff all of Kimimaro's close-range attacks- but he had not been permitted to, since it used far too much chakra to be called a purely taijutsu technique. Nor was he allowed to use "Hakke: Rukujuuyon Shou", even though it was the culmination of all of his training, because it would decide the duel instantly. But its use had not been totally forbidden...

He glanced at Hiashi again, so much anger in his eyes that it was almost a threat. Hiashi returned his stare impassively. But, just when Neji was about to give up on this request and return his attention to Kimimaro, Hiashi's features changed slightly, and he moved his head in an almost imperceptible nod. A wicked grin spread upon his lips as he wasted no time in assuming the position that signalled the beginning of the end for Kimimaro.

'Hakke!'

Kimimaro's eyes widened for a moment, as though he knew what was coming. But it was too late. He was inside Neji's range.

'Roku-jyuu-yon shou!' Barking out the name of his technique, he sprang at Kimimaro, with a speed that surprised even Neji himself.


'Ni-shou!' Neji's fingers stabbed into Kimimaro's abdomen, in his left shoulder joint and right kidney. Kimimaro had already started growing the bone armour, but Neji had plunged in far faster than could be dealt with.

'Yon-shou!' Neji struck two more completely unprotected points on his body before coming in contact with the bone armour. His expression hardened, confused, but he continued his attack regardless. The tenketsu he had already closed would jeopardise the integrity of the armour, the only upside being that he wasn't likely to hit the same place twice- and even if he did, it wouldn't do much.

'Hachi-shou!' The speed of the strikes was steadily increasing, but more and more were hitting the armour rather than collapsing parts of his chakra circulatory system. The plan seemed to be working, for the most part. Not that Neji was going to let that stop him.

'Jyu-roku-shou!' His hands were difficult to follow now, but the blows were pattering against him like a light rain now, rather than arrows.

'San-jyu-ni-shou!' The hands attacking him were now moving so fast that they appeared to be swooping in from impossible angles. But that wasn't the end of it.

'Roku-jyu-yon-shou!' It was...kind of like getting hit by a slow-moving wall. The combined force of the last half of the attack hitting him almost instantly knocked him onto his back. He lay there, frozen, for a few seconds while he began re-absorbing the bone plates. He couldn't see Neji from where he was, but he could hear him puffing from the effort of using such an absurd technique. There was also laughter there. He sounded like he was working himself up for some grandstanding.

His joints were reluctant to move, but that would assist to reaffirm Neji's hope of victory. The more feeble his movements while he tried to stand, the more convinced he would become of his technique's effectiveness. Rolling onto his hands and knees like his body was of significantly higher weight than before (which it was), he grimaced in apparent pain just to be on the safe side.

'Well, Kaguya?' Neji said between breaths, his Byakugan no longer in an active state and mistaking Kimimaro's sluggishness for the symptoms of having one's chakra flow halted. 'Now do you see the difference between us?'

Reabsorbing the bone masks took almost as long as growing them did, but Kimimaro reasoned that the process would be complete by the time he regained his feet. And he was equally sure that Neji would allow him to stand without intervening- a statement of superiority that he currently had no reason to forego.

'Kimimaro-kun!' He was surprised to hear Hinata's voice, and felt a small pang of guilt that he had tricked her as he had Neji. Hiashi, either through perceptiveness or strictness, held out a diplomatic hand to silence his daughter. Kimimaro continued to straighten, the last of the errant bone metabolising completely. He would apologise to Hinata after he dealt with Neji.

'Yes. I understand it quite well... now.' He slowly lowered himself into a very nostalgic stance. It was the stance of a style that had its roots in the Mizu no Kuni, and had been one of the first styles he had learned.

A twinkle of understanding passed across Neji's face, quickly replaced by a look of horror.

Any familiarity with the style he was using, and however much the few hits Neji had landed on him hurt were now irrelevant. Neji offered little resistance, having been shown that his ultimate move could be defeated. A poor imitation of Jyuuken could have bested him.

There was silence for a few minutes after Neji stopped moving. Then a few cantankerous old Hyuuga men began stalking away before the familiar murmur of hushed conversation reclaimed the area. What ultimately caught his attention, however, was Hinata's face. The relief expressed therein was obvious enough to make Kimimaro feel slightly embarrassed, and there was also the nagging twinge of worry for Neji's condition present there.

Hiashi sat unmoving- what he was thinking, Kimimaro couldn't begin to guess. He seemed thoughtful, but all other external indications were switched off; possibly because he was mindful of the entire clan's presence. He weathered an intermittent storm of hopeful glances from Hinata for a while before nodding reluctantly. Hinata rose to her feet and carefully made her way towards Kimimaro. The crowd was beginning to disperse now, and two men were gently hauling Neji away, whom Hinata sidestepped worriedly and crept the last few paces to stand before Kimimaro.

'Umm...g-uh, I...I'm glad you're alright,' she said uncertainly. Kimimaro found himself unable to resist the urge to twist the corners of his mouth into a faint smile.

At some point between the beginning and the end of his apologising for having worried her necessarily, Hiashi made himself scarce.


Neji ignored the sting of antiseptic as it was applied liberally to his arm. Another Hyuuga branch family member was treating his injuries with unhurried care and attention to detail; not that his injuries were that severe.

Nothing recently made any kind of sense to him. Nothing made sense, ever since Hinata had beaten him during the Chuunin exam's quarter-finals. That should never have happened. He was stronger, faster and more skillful than her- and yet he had lost. His emotions had been in turmoil since then. And then that Kaguya had crawled out from under some rock in the forest...

That itself made no sense. How did such a strong taijutsu expert come to be wounded in the forest around Konoha? The timing of his appearance, not long after the attack by Otogakure and Sunagakure, was too close to be a coincidence- and the notion that he was just an innocent bystander that got involved was laughable. Ever since Neji first lay eyes on Kimimaro, he knew that he didn't trust him. They were destined to come to blows from that moment forth. But then it had all gone wrong again.

In their first engagement, Kimimaro had purposely shown him several different fighting styles to stop Neji gaining too significant an advantage while assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Jyuuken. And Neji had been taken in completely. Kimimaro had even managed to somehow withstand Hakke: Rokujyuyon-shou- a feat that Neji had considered impossible.

Neji, now the lone occupant of his room, brought his fist down on the side of his bed. '...Why?' The question asked to the still air around him, went unanswered. He brought his fist down again, harder this time, and ignored the tide of pain this brought. 'Why?' he demanded again, his voice quaking. The walls ignored his question, as did his (now slightly indignant) bed. 'I knew my destiny already, so WHY...?' the last half of the sentence died in his throat. Why did I struggle so hard against it, knowing that it was pointless? Somehow, he felt that something indefinable would change within himself if he gave voice to the thought. He didn't know what this "something" was, but he felt apprehensive about it regardless. He felt as though he was holding onto a thread on the frayed hem of his "self" and if he pulled too hard the thread would begin winding away until he was in tatters.

He punched his bed frame again, hoping that the action would, in some way, put him at ease. It didn't really work. He bit his lip and tried to think about something else. Somehow, though, the question continued to surface in his mind. Why? Why?

'Neji.' His name was spoken in place of a knock at the door. And there was no mistaking Hiashi-sama's stern voice. Without waiting for Neji to reply Hiashi continued, 'I'm coming in.'

Neji tried to wipe away his tears of anger and compose himself before the door was open. He managed it, but only just. He felt like he say something pointed about how Hiashi-sama must feel disappointed by a failure like him but couldn't think of anything that didn't come across as insulting, such was his mood. He instead decided on a more pointed question.

'What is it you want?' he asked, as politely as he could manage. Hiashi looked at him with a serious expression. Maybe he really was going to tell him how much of a-

'I came...' Hiashi hesitated a moment. 'To tell you the truth of that day.'

'...Truth?' Neji didn't understand. There was no question about which day "that day" was, but Neji knew of those events quite well.

'That time...I fully intended to die.' Neji's jaw dropped at the implication, but that wasn't how he remembered it. He rounded on Hiashi, rather more angrily than was probably appropriate.

'What? What are you talking about? That time, my father was killed to take your place!'

'Hindsight may give that impression...' Hiashi paused again, choosing his words carefully. 'But that is not the whole story.'

'What... after all these years...' It really was a bit late to be changing the story...

'I'm telling you after all these years because I thought you would believe me now.' A simple statement, and Neji saw no lie in his eyes. What came after, though, was particularly hard to swallow. A brief story of how his father had forced Hiashi to accept his decision to die in his place, for the good of the village. Neji was...less than convinced.

'...That is the whole truth,' Hiashi finished curtly.

'Why should I believe a story like that?' he demanded. 'It seems like a convenient excuse created by the main family! After all these years...' he said again, less accepting than the first time.

'I thought you would say that... that is why I waited. And told you now,' he added, unnecessarily. Neji made a universally understood sound of disbelief. But Hiashi surprised him by continuing, I wanted to- not as a member of the main family, but as Hizashi's brother... I wanted to tell you my younger brother's final words...!' His voice, Neji thought, carried conviction that he had never heard from Hiashi before.

As if that wasn't enough, before Neji's increasingly astounded eyes, Hiashi slowly dropped to his knees and bowed his head until it was almost touching the floor. 'Please believe me,' he said withoutmoving from his position. Neji tried to picture what expression Hiashi must have had then, but couldn't. Why was this happening?

'...Please...' Neji began, feeling tears well up. '...Raise your head, Hiashi-sama.'


Sleyman (Again): GAAAH! This chapter (and everything else I'm writing) was murder in a bottle under a bridge with my hand built into it. ...I don't even know what I mean by that! REVIEWS!