NNN

Neji buried his head in his arms, thinking he was alone now he let a few tears fall down his face, shoulders shaking with the failing effort to stop the overwhelming sadness. He almost jumped 6 feet in the air and his ears shot up, when soemone put a hnad on his back. He looked round at the hokages worried face "neji..." he sniffed "hokage sir...." he sighed "neji, irukas gone to tell your classmates...." neji started shaking terrified of the idea "no!! i dont want them to know!! they'll hate me..for becoming this.."

The third shook his head with a sigh "neji, we're not a village of hatred, it will be alright..in time those genes will degenerate, and you'll be your old self again...." Neji looked semi hopeful, but he still held a sad haunted look in his eyes.

The class gaped at iruka as he finsihed explaining neji's story "but how?" a babble of voices broke out. Hinatas face was sad -neji-sama..- she thought. "quieten down!" iruka said rasing his voice a little. "now.." he continued once the classrooom fell silent "i dont want to hear of him feeling upset because one of you has said something....we're hoping, that by informing you all of this, it will help him come to terms with it..."

He sighed "it isn't easy for him, so lets all try not to make a big deal ok?" the class all nodded. Irukas warning held no need tho..all fo the class understood..naruto espeshially, since people had been afraid of him because of his relation to the demon fox. He rested his head on his hands and began thinking...

At first break that day naruto announced he had an idea. People crowded round, sakura was impressed -hes actually being mature..- she looked at sasuke-kun with a moony sigh as usual though. He was so cute...

Narutos idea was thus: do up the class room and stuff to make it cool for him, and see what they could find that would help him feel at home. Naruto smiled as people volenteered all sorts to go into the plan, iruka had sounded genuinely worried about neji so they decided as a class to help. Iruka watched them from a small distance away -good, this will help neji...-.

Hinata walked back to the academy, mind in a muddle, after lunch that day. But she snapped out of her gaze when she saw a kitty being chased up a tree by a dog. Bravely she ran up to it, making loud shooing noises. The dog took a look at this shouting creature then ran. She stopped when she saw it scramble around the corner, she looked up at the kitty "h-hello.." she said softly...the cat jumped down, purring around her ankles, she smiled.

But then the dog barking began from a few streets away, and the cat bolted, something falling to the ground. "oh, kitty!" hinata called, but it had already dissapeared. She bent down to pick up the object. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be pale white collar, with a little round silver bell on it. She smiled -pretty..- she thought. She was startled out of her reviere, a moment later, by a famimilair person landing atop the tree

"oh!"

Neji sighed, he'd told the hokage everything about the accident, but now his mind dwelled on his classmates. What would they think of him? -even with iruka's help..they'll still hate me..- he sighed, looking out open window he felt the urge to just get outta there...

He opened the window in a flash, diving up easily onto the roof. Once free he began to run across the rooftops, tail streaming behind him, ears lifting a bit as he imaged he could just run away from this....

He stopped on top of a tree branch, hearing a dog barking. But that paled away when he heard a human gasp beneath him. He looked down, coming face to face with hinata. "oh...crap.." he thought.

The ears went down...

Hinata stared at neji for a moment, seeing the ears retreating back in alarm "uhm...hello n-neji-sama" she said softly. He looked as if he were about to bolt...but then, with a deep sigh, he jumped down to face her, looking sadly at the ground.She felt a pang of sadness, seeing his usual cold and perfectionist personality gone..repleaced by the silent figure that now stood in front of her.

Impulsively she took the collar from her pocket, and, stepping forward, tied it quickly around neck so that it fitted perfectly "there...so we dont loose you.." she siad, waiting for hom to do something. His face seemed like stone for a second, then he offered a small smile...the bell tinkling as he lifted his head.

"Comeing back to the academy? everyone wants to see you..." he bit his lip, then nodded "...yeah.'' They set off back towards the school. Neji looked at the ground, feeling a fear building up in his stomach at the the thought of returning. Pretty soon they arrived.

He hesitated at the door, lookign nervous, but just as he was about to go in, he heard a voice "ah, there you are..!" he whipped round, ears back, but it was only iruka "coming?" the chuunin asked, smiling kindly at him. He nodded, still staring at the floor -better hear them laughing now than later..- he thought...

Naruto ran back to the others in the class "he's here! lets go!" they all sat back down in random groups, chatting, all around the room were things they thought might make him feel better. Pictures of cats and plants that were picked from the forest were scattered here and there.

They all looked around as the door opened, hinata pulling neji by the hand into the room. He looked pretty much the same as usual, but there was a little bell around his neck which rang every time he moved. The ears were tilted at an angle, they twitched, making the cute ::pwip pwip:: sound.