As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.
"Lee, do you really think you should be doing so much? You're still healing," Neji said, rubbing his forearm to smooth the goose bumps brought on from the early morning chill.
"Of course!"
Neji leaned out of the way of an exuberant sweep of Lee's arm, which left him wincing. Lee leaned onto his crutch so he could massage his newly strained arm. The full success of the operation was still to be seen, but Neji could already tell that it had an effect. Lee still had some difficulty moving on his own, especially on stairs, but much of the tension that had permeated his body since the chuunin exam was gone. The pain had eased, it seemed.
"Well, maybe not so much, but I'm getting there. I can't let everyone down," Lee said.
Neji didn't smile . . . well, maybe he smiled a little. It was good to hear hope in his voice again. The despondency that had lingered for so long in Lee had felt unnatural. Neji might not be looking forward to him at full "youthful" power, but anything that gave him hope was good. "Come on, I'm sure you're up to a walk at least."
The little bit of frustration that had returned at Lee's strained arm disappeared again at Neji's suggestion. "Definitely! I shall conquer a walk!"
"Or we could just take one." Neji sighed; Lee's exuberance was a good thing, he reminded himself. "So, did I tell you we finally finished testing the whole clan for that genetic problem?"
Lee shook his head, concentrating on walking with the crutch. Neji knew Lee didn't really care—well, he cared in his over-exaggerated Gai way of caring about everything that happened around him—but the distraction of the conversation kept Lee focused on Neji instead of the pain and trouble of walking.
"Yumi said over sixty percent of the clan carries it. She's really pushing out of clan marriages to try and reduce that number. They found ten others who are like Hinata, too. Only three of them are shinobi though, and one's retired at that; all the rest couldn't keep up with the training required. I think it's really helped Hinata—knowing that. She's showing a lot more confidence."
"She's coming into the springtime of her youth!" Lee cheered to no one in particular, parroting Gai's favorite commentary on life.
Neji ignored the cliché. "Her team's made her better, but this is different. Once you're healed, we should schedule some sparring matches against her team. It would be interesting to see how an offensive heavy team like us handles a more strategic team. It could give us new ideas on how to organize our skills."
"I shall strive everyday to improve until I can once again call myself your rival."
"You really don't have to," Neji said, still wishing he could eliminate that idea from Lee's mind. "Just get better. I'm sure Gai misses your training sessions." As could be seen from the exaggerated weeping that happened whenever Lee was mentioned, or missed, or at random times when a small cut on one of them reminded him of Lee. Neji would be more than happy for Lee to occupy their instructor's focus again.
"Gai-sensei has come to see me every day. Even now he hasn't given up on me."
Neji could see Lee's desire to become "youthful" in the tears that quivered in the corners of his eyes, but such things usually came with loud declarations and posing, both of which seemed impeded by his concentration on walking with the crutch—much to Neji's relief. While not surprising Gai visited him, it was good to know Gai could still get Lee riled up like that. If anyone could get Lee back in fighting form, it was Gai.
"How's your mother enjoying Gai's visits?" Neji asked with more than a little smirk showing.
"Oh, she was very cross with him after I was hurt in the chuunin exam. But Gai-sensei apologized like a true man and she accepted it. She even sets him a place at dinner."
"That's good." It took a bit of willpower for Neji not to laugh. Lee was too blinded by Gai's presence to register his mother's attention, and that in itself made it all the more amusing. He would never understand the attraction, but to each their own.
Lee smiled a big, toothy expression that made him eerily like their green-clad instructor. "Gai-sensei helps with my rehab, too. It's not much right now, but if I don't keep moving I won't be ready to get back to training when I'm better."
"And you need to come back. Tenten and I work well together, but the rhythm of the team is off."
Lee stopped walking, forcing Neji to halt a couple steps ahead of him. They were at the top of a staircase heading down to the street, and for a moment Neji thought maybe Lee was disturbed by the frustrations his injuries left him with, but that moment quickly passed with the "youthful" tears falling down Lee's face. Neji learned long ago the difference between pain or sadness tears and the "youthful" tears that meant Gai or Lee were simply feeling too many "manly" emotions to be kept to themselves.
Lee jumped/slumped onto Neji as joyful sobs broke up his attempt at speaking. "You are not only . . . the greatest rival . . . but the greatest . . . friend! Fate has truly . . . smiled on us!"
Neji stood rigid, resisting the reflex to chuck Lee over his shoulder for trying to go through this ridiculous male bonding Gai taught him. But Lee was still injured, and Neji didn't want to be the one to tell Tsunade that her operation was pointless, because Neji accidently beat Lee into a small, limp pulp for hugging him. He really hated being hugged by Lee or Gai, though. His family, sure. Tenten's random one-armed shoulder-hug, fine. Gai and Lee's blubbering attack of over-flowing emotion, no. Just, no. But Neji held his breath, closed his eyes, and waited for Lee to finish whatever it was he needed to do.
"When you're done up there, we need to talk."
The voice calling from below made him cringe—someone had actually seen that?—and he carefully detached himself from Lee's now less clingy embrace. When he finally looked down to see who it was that spoke, he silently sighed. No one should have seen them this early in the morning, let alone Kiba and—his eyes narrowed slightly—Naruto. Two others were with them. Neji recognized the one who spoke, Shikamaru, because the boy was the only one that had managed to make chuunin, and he was fairly sure the other was another member of Shikamaru's team. What were they all doing together, and why did they need to talk to him and Lee? Their expressions were an odd mixture of excitement, worry, and reservation.
Taking Lee's free arm, Neji helped his teammate down the long staircase to group waiting for them. "What do you need?"
Shikamaru took a deep breath and sighed. He was the one showing reservation. "Sasuke has defected. The Hokage ordered me to bring him back with whatever elite genin I can find. I'd say you qualify, Neji."
"The Uchiha?" Was that family incapable of loyalty? But skilled as he was, Sasuke was still a genin. Why defect now? "Where is he going?"
"The Hokage thinks he's going to Orochimaru."
"The one who killed Sandaime." Now Neji was invested. How anyone in Konoha could willingly go to that man was a disrespect to everything Sandaime stood for.
"And probably he has escorts to make sure he gets there," Shikamaru added.
"I hate this," Lee snapped with none of the flamboyance Neji was used to. "When help is needed most, I'm in this condition."
"Lee." Neji could only imagine how frustrated he must be feeling. For better or worse, Lee was the first one into a fight. It wasn't often Neji was without words, and fewer people he'd really want to offer some form of comfort to, but seeing Lee like that managed it. Weakly, he offered what little his usually quick mind could come up with. "You'll be there when we truly need you."
Lee lowered his head and turned away. All eyes were on him, sympathy in each attentive gaze. Faster than he probably should have, Lee spun on his heel and offered his best Nice Guy smile. "I won't fail! Good luck!"
Whatever hesitation that had been within the group evaporated under the strength of Lee's optimism. It was impressive how infectious that could be, maybe even more so given his infirmity.
Shikamaru grinned a far more resolved expression to the group and motioned towards the village gate. "We need to get moving."
Sending Lee a farewell nod, Neji followed the others heading for the edge of the village, assessing each of his new teammates carefully. Kiba was as over-confident and excited as usual, but at least Neji was familiar with Kiba's fighting style from Hinata's description and a few training matches he'd seen. Shikamaru's strategic mind was incredible already, as witnessed in the chuunin exam, and his promotion only made the obvious choice of leader no contest. His teammate, Chouji, was a wild card. Neji had no solid idea of his skills or capabilities. He appeared neither over-confident nor scared, excited nor wary. But there was a competency in his demeanor, and Shikamaru showed trust in him. That only left Naruto.
Whether the blonde brat was doing the same as Neji or he sensed Neji watching him, Naruto glanced back and the two gazes met. Contempt, frustration, anger, worry, and just a hint of loathing all tumbled beneath Naruto's attempt to look calm. The Uchiha was a member of his team, so it was difficult to know what emotions were caused by the defection and what was directed at Neji himself, but given their history, Neji had little doubt at least some of those were for him. In a mission that obviously should have been given to higher-ranked shinobi, problems within the team dynamic were dangerous.
Matching Naruto's speed, Neji urged the boy back enough to not be easily overheard, but not so far as to seem slacking. "We have to work together."
"Don't remind me," Naruto snapped back with the same venom Neji had come to expect (and usually dished out himself).
Neji took a deep breath and let it pass. "Listen, I don't like you and you don't like me, and I'm fairly sure it's for the same reason."
Naruto snorted.
Again, Neji took a deep breath and let it pass. He might have teased Hinata about her crush during the chuunin exam, but he'd never actually betray her confidence. Not even to explain to the dimwit beside him just how at fault he was. "It really doesn't matter how we feel about each other, but right now we have to trust each other. We're comrades for Konoha."
Some of the loathing seemed to disappear from beneath Naruto's poor mask. It was progress that gave Neji a little respect for him. He might not like Naruto, but if he could let that go for the sake of the mission, he would at least be a decent shinobi.
"I get that. Comrades. I still don't like you, though."
Neji nodded. "I don't like you either. And one more thing, don't ever think your friendship with Hinata compares with how I feel. I've made mistakes with her, and probably will again, but I would fight to my last breath for her. That's what it means to be a brother."
An emotion Neji hadn't expected flashed across Naruto's face and was buried just as quickly: recognition. Not the kind of recognition that came with empathy and understanding of another's point of view, but the sudden realization you already knew what that feeling was. As if the emotion was too unnerving to accept, Naruto shook his head out.
"We got a job to do," he said, hurrying back to the rest of the group.
Neji reluctantly admitted to himself that Naruto might be more interesting than he gave him credit for. He'd never admit it to anyone else, especially Hinata, but maybe—just maybe—the boy wasn't as oblivious as he thought.
"All right," Shikamaru said as the group paused at the village gate. "Looks like it's up to the five of us. Let's go."
The halls were silent. The halls were never silent, yet in the still atmosphere no sound could be heard. No servants. No voices. Just emptiness. Neji walked barefoot over the cool wood floors in search of something he wasn't certain of. No matter how many times he turned or how familiar the area seemed, no door or window to the outside appeared to allow escape from the lonesome hall.
"Mom. Dad," he called. It was a strange sensation—knowing yet not knowing where he was. Searching but never finding. He wasn't afraid; fear was absent like a child from school—meant to be there but not.
He turned another corner and down the hall a light illuminated the shoji paper of a familiar door. The contrast of the dim hall and the light inside the room made the faint vine design painted on the paper appear to glow brighter than the rest. Neji wanted to smile. He didn't.
Walking to the light, Neji rapped on the wood frame. "Hinata."
No one answered. He opened the door and the thick scent of sandalwood and saussurea enveloped him like a warm blanket deep in the woods where only the birds and the wild animals lay in slumber. It wasn't her normal choice, but the incense was familiar and judging by the line of ash in the ornate holder, it had been burning a long time.
Aside from the incense holder and the cedar desk though, this wasn't Hinata's study. Her mother's books were replaced with clan history, and in place of the mortar and pestle that normally adorned the corner of the desk was a pile of paperwork. It was her study, yet not. This house was his, yet not. A dream that was more than a dream but not a genjustu.
At the sound of footsteps, Neji turned around and headed back into the hall. The figure started as a shadow in the lamplight, flickering in and out, then like a forgotten spirit it took solid form—a body to match the echoing sound.
"Dad?"
Hizashi's face and body walked towards him, but it wasn't Neji's father; his forehead remained obstinately bare. The man stopped, his gaze passing over the open door to Hinata's study. No, Hinata's study was not always hers. It once belonged to him.
"Hiashi-sama?"
Hiashi stepped closer, taking Neji's face in his hand, as if searching for something—someone—in his young features. "You don't belong here."
"Where am I?"
"Where you shouldn't be." Hiashi release him and walked past into his office. The bottom of his kimono seemed to haze as the door closed again and the light inside went black.
Neji was alone once more and the hall again empty and endless. With nothing else to try, Neji continued down the hall. Time was strange, or his perception of it was; he wasn't sure which. He knew it was passing on an instinctual level, the kind that told him if he'd slept an hour or merely five minutes. But the longer he walked, the more the sameness of this place left him frozen in time, as if he didn't exist to feel the passage of time.
He didn't know how long he'd been wandering when the footsteps began again. It was softer than before and in the air was a steady swish of fabric across the floor. "He never was one for social niceties. It's what made us a good match. My graces covered his flaws."
It had been so long, Neji had forgotten what she looked like. Hair longer, face a bit rounder, and lines marking her age, but otherwise it was like looking at Hinata's future. Naomi always teased that Neji resembled Hizashi, but had this woman lived, everyone would have said the same of Hinata and her mother.
"Where am I, Atsuko-sama?"
Atsuko's smile was as warm as he remembered, and the fingers tracing over his cheek were a mother's. "Somewhere you aren't meant to be yet."
For the first time he wondered how he'd come to be at the house that wasn't his house. How did he arrive? When did he arrive? What was he doing before? He was . . . fighting someone. Someone very dangerous. He was fighting alone. "Am I dead?"
Atsuko chuckled the same laugh Hinata had, only a little deeper. "Not quite, but you are trying your hardest."
"I don't want to die."
"Then let's get you out of here." Atsuko placed an arm around his shoulder and urged him back the way he'd come. The halls all looked the same to him, but she walked with certainty in her countenance.
"Where is this place? Why are we here?"
"This is neither here nor there, or perhaps it's both. We are here, as we are. Perhaps it is forever, perhaps it is for a moment. Perhaps we are here to see you off again, because you do not belong."
"Don't you want to know?" he asked.
"I find I have few worries. Perhaps that is strange, but that is part of this place." Atsuko pulled him closer in a slight one-armed hug as they walked. "Thank you for keeping your promise."
Neji was about to ask if she could see them in the real world or how did she know he kept his promise, but even as the thought passed over him, Neji knew it wasn't important. "I'll always take care of her."
"The clan is in good hands." Atsuko smiled. She didn't say whose hands, but Neji could sense it wasn't only Hinata she was talking about.
The halls seemed to brighten as they walked until he finally saw a door leading out of the house. At the threshold, Hiashi waited for them like a sentry guarding the gate. "It's time for you to go."
Releasing Neji, Atsuko joined her husband, and an expression Neji knew all too well on that face eased the hardness away. They had been an arranged marriage, as Hinata would be in. Atsuko was carefully selected from numerous others to be the best match, the most suitable wife. Still there was love or something akin to tenderness between them. Neji wondered what kind of family they would have made with Hinata. Would they have been like his own?
Neji looked at the green grass just past the porch and a longing to be home filled him, as if by simply stepping outside he would be able to turn around and the home that wasn't his home would become what he always knew with people and chatter and the faces of those he loved. But a part of him stalled.
"If this is real, do you want me to tell her anything?"
Hiashi glanced at his wife in an unspoken conversation that Neji couldn't read. "This is what it is, real or not. She is not here. We don't want her here."
"Not for a very long time," Atsuko added, tempering the strictness of Hiashi's statement. "She has so much to do still. Everything else, she already knows."
Neji nodded and let the longing that had built up inside him take over. The world brightened with each step over the threshold until the white burned his vision blank. He blinked and blinked as the light faded back again, now in the form of the soft, straight glow of industrial bulbs. His body was heavy and a sharp hiss he recognized as wheezing filled his ears the deeper he breathed. It was difficult to concentrate, but one thing kept bringing him back: a hand holding his.
The sterile hospital room belied the messy emotions left plain on every Hyuuga face beside his bed, no attempt to hide the fear or what little comfort they took in one another. Hizashi and Naomi held each other. Their nervous energy ran back and forth from one to the other through the vice-like grip that kept them both standing. Tears had fallen long ago, leaving their faces a blotchy red, and every so often one would take a deep, full breath that fortified them a while more. Beside his bed, Hinata sat. Her body looked tired—still weakened from her earlier sickness—and her eyes were dark with fear, yet the hand that held his was strong.
"Hey," he called. It was pathetic little sound that was barely more than air, yet the entire room stopped at his voice.
All three crowded around him, straining to catch a glimpse of his white eyes looking at them. Hizashi placed a hand on Neji's forehead—bare for Neji could feel his skin—while Naomi, lacking any room to touch her son, wrapped her arms around Hinata in a substitute hug.
"We're so proud of you, Neji," Hizashi said, his normally commanding voice catching in his throat.
Tears fell freely down Naomi's face. "But don't you ever do that to us again."
Neji tried to smile. He wasn't sure if his face complied, but the expression was no doubt in his eyes. All Hinata did was squeeze his hand, her mouth trembling too much to speak. It was strange to see her now that he'd seen Atsuko. Remembering only Hiashi thanks to his father's face being the same, Neji had always found the resemblance there. The sharp line of her nose that was like them, the shape of her eyes. Whether it was really them or just a memory while he was dying, Atsuko's image laid upon Hinata's face like a premonition.
He squeezed her hand back. "If . . . if you grew . . . your hair out . . . you'd look . . . just like her."
His family shared a confused gaze and for a moment the worry broke through their relief. "What are you talking about?" Hizashi asked for them.
"Atsuko . . . sama," Neji continued, not caring they didn't understand. "She looks . . . just like her . . . . I'd forgotten that."
Hinata's eyes widened a little. "Mom?"
"They brought me back," he whispered, eyes falling heavy. "It was nice . . . to see her."
Naomi said something more but Neji was too tired to listen. He was alive, and his family was with him. That was all he needed to sleep.
This time he didn't dream.