Quick drabble tossed together in like ten minutes, so excuse the rushed quality. Based off the Nejiten LJ comm's drabble meme, prompt Restrained.
She doesn't allow the storms of her heart to show on her face - her eyes are always calm and cool and never too bright with tears. Her lips never bare her teeth, never quirk, never curve into grins or scowls. She stands in absolute stillness until motion is necessary - no twitches, no shivers, no shudders. She does not allow emotion to manifest itself visibly.
She is the epitome of kunoichi canon - adhering to the ideals of every textbook on ninja behavior. She is calm and steady and impossible to rouse to unseemly behavior. She is in utter control of each and every aspect of her being. She is dedicated to nothing but the mission - she is swayed by neither mercy, nor fear, nor temptation. She is an embodiment of restraint.
Neji looks at her, and remembers a smiling girl whose quicksilver emotions flickered across her face, and mourns her loss in the absolute silence of his own aching heart. He dares not voice his feelings of loss aloud. No one would sympathize with him.
After all, it was he who molded her, step by step, day by day, into this cool-eyed stranger.