Freedom Of A Caged Bird
By: Kodoku433
Word Count: 2210

Kodoku: I have come with a Mild NejiTen one-shot. Yeah, I know the title's weird and all, but it randomly popped into my head so I just decided to use it, seeing that I wanted to get this story posted and overwith. Please forgive me if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes. I re-read it once, but I'm too lazy to read it again, so I posted it.

P.S. I'm a horrible writer...

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto...

The brunette walked through the bustling streets of Konoha, glancing at each store to see if something would catch her chocolate brown eyes. She and Neji had been at the training grounds before Lee and Gai had arrived. They had a quick spar, and of course, Neji had won that spar unscathed. She smiled, she knows she can never defeat him, yet she does it for practice and also for her enjoyment. Walking by a store, something in the very back caught her eyes, curious, she advanced into the store, walking past lively, colourful birds, yet she kept on passing them, not noticing their existence until she abruptly stopped in front of a barely visible bird. It stood there, it's greyish-white feathers was beautiful, it's head facing sideways with it's white eyes blinking. The storekeeper came up behind Tenten, glancing at what she was staring at.

"Quite an unfortunate bird." he told Tenten, she looked at him, urging the man to tell her what was wrong with it.

"It went blind just a few months ago, and because of it's white eyes, those who come here thought that it looked possessed and decided to buy the other 'normal' ones." the storekeeper sighed, Tenten nodded and looked back at the bird, and then she looked at the man.

"Can you please hold on to him for a while?" Tenten asked the man, he confusedly stared at her, she smiled at him.

"I want him." Tenten simply stated, her chocolate brown eyes staring admirably at the animal. The store keeper nodded. Taking one more glance at the bird before she left her position in front of the cage, her mouth curved into another smile. She slowly browsed the shop, casting small and quick glances at the supposed 'normal' ones. The others were always bright and lively, croaking and speaking the human words for attention, yet the greyish white one always stole her interest and consideration, even if it was the quietest one of them all. She went to the storekeeper, giving him the money she had at the moment; a sign that he would have to keep the bird for her, since she paid a small amount of the price. Tenten normally stepped out of the store, putting on a cheerful smile, she waved good-bye at the storekeeper. The sixteen year old girl trudged down the busy roads of Konoha towards her apartment, yearning for a well deserved rest for her next practice session with her team, with Neji. Stepping into her flat, she carelessly kicked off her shoes, and walked towards her bathroom, taking a nice, long, warm shower to lessen the ache of her muscles. Putting on a pair of shorts and a baggy white shirt, she stepped out and then into her room, falling onto her bed. She closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep. Relaxation reaching her mind and body as she did so. Tranquility resting itself on Tenten's face.

Few minutes after dawn had appeared, casting the was dark sky orange and yellow rays. In less than milliseconds, the rays had reached Tenten's bedroom window, illuminating the poorly decorated room, consisting only of a closet, a table, and a small yet comfortable bed in the top right corner. Tenten reluctantly woke up from her slumber, her eyes travelled across her naturally lit room and landed on the table, where her digital clock was stationed.

5:47 am.

Inwardly groaning, she sat up, despite the weights on her eyelids and the persistency of her body. Dragging her feet across her flat towards her bathroom, she took a two minute morning shower to fully awaken her mind. After her shower, she glanced at her clock. 5:50 am. She smiled, only ten minutes to get to the training grounds, where she always met Neji after finishing his meditation. Her brown hair was dripping wet from her earlier shower, noticing this, she quickly walked over to her closet, pulling open the doors and grabbing her usual attire, a pink Chinese styled shirt, and a pair of green cargo pants. She put her wet hair into her regular buns and left her apartment, jumping towards her destination. When she reached there, her eyes travelled across the field, searching for her training partner. She casually walked towards his position and smiled, knowing Neji can see it, even if his eyes were closed.

"Morning." Tenten greeted, twirling an incredibly sharp kunai around her fingers; a habit she developed since she was little. Her long-haired Hyuuga friend stood up and walked over to his side of the field and opened his eyes.

"Let's start." his demanding voice called out, directed towards the only girl in their team. Slightly nodding and doing the same thing he did, she went to her side of the field.

"Gladly." She spoke, pulling out a couple of kunai and shuriken to start off their daily routine. Minutes later, Tenten found herself lying down on her back, facing towards the now, coloured sky. Mixtures of orange, yellow, and blue painted the endless sky. Sweat was rolling off her face, falling onto the ground beneath her. Her arms and legs were spread out carelessly. Neji had given her a five minute break, seeing that fighting a tired partner would only waste his time. He noticed the admiration and sense of freedom in Tenten's eyes as she stared at the sky, seeing so, he laid himself down beside the weapon mistress, facing the sky. Tenten smiled, realizing that they were in the same position as last time, when they set their eyes on a couple of birds flying across the field. Neji was entranced at how much sense of freedom just staring at the sky and birds gave his mind. It let loose all his worries and thoughts just staring blankly at the sky. The weapons mistress smiled as she recalled the time when he unconsciously spoke to her at the time they were staring at the sky when the sun was rising.

He told her, and only her, that we was a caged bird, trapped in an inescapable cage, preventing him the freedom he wanted. Always yearning, wishing and waiting to be set free from that cage. Those weren't the exact words he had used, but they were similar to a good extent.

"You can look up towards the sky, and give your mind a sense of freedom…" She told him, responding to his words. Neji suddenly stiffened after hearing her say those words, realizing that he had just told her what he had not told anyone else. She noticed his tensed body and disturbed mind, she smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul." Tenten reassured him, he slightly relaxed, yet still faintly disturbed that someone else knew of his wishes.

Tenten instantly came back to the present after she remembered their small conversation in the past when Neji had just spoken her name. Tenten turned her head towards Neji, giving him a questioning look.

"Break's over." he told her, standing up, waiting for her to get up also. Sighing, she stood up, pulling out her hair from it's disarrayed buns, and quickly, put them back up in buns, neater than what she just had, yet messier than her morning ones. They started another spar, this one had lasted a little longer in length than the one before it, Tenten was about to charge towards Neji with a katana in hand, ready to stab him until she changed her course and threw it towards a nearby tree, nearly hitting the another presence in the field. Tenten walked up to the tree and glanced up to see their other teammate, Lee, staring nervously at the launched katana in the branch, right in between his legs.

"Hello Lee. Mind telling us what you're doing?" Tenten asked, Lee glanced down to his female teammate, who had her arms folded across her chest, and had her foot tapping patiently on the grass.

"I have just arrived my youthful teammates!" Lee grinned as he jumped down the tree, bringing the katana with him. He handed it to Tenten, who sheathed it in it's rightful scabbard. Neji nodded at his other teammate, Rock Lee, who only specialized in Taijutsu, due to the fact that he could not use any form of chakra. Their teacher, Maito Gai, arrived soon after, stating that they got a day off to relax their youthful bodies and minds after fifty laps around Konoha, one hundred push-ups and one hundred sit-ups. Tenten finished them after a few hours, all because of the fact that they did this occasionally, although it is still tiring, she admitted it. She was allowed to leave after doing all of her assigned exercises. She cheerfully ran to the store, walking past the others towards the one she adored most. She smiled at it, as it did what it did before, blankly blink it's white deceased eyes at her. Grabbing a few coins, she handed it to the owner, and left.

One full week had passed by, even if Tenten had to do missions, she always found time in her life to visit the bird everyday, to check on it, and smile happily after she saw that it looked the same. The store owner, seeing that she adored and always checked up on the bird despite her busy schedule as a ninja, gradually gave her the bird as a gift. Tenten refused, starting that she had only paid him half the price of what it really cost. The owner persisted, giving it to her, knowing that she was an orphan and had no parents. She had been paying for the bird through her budget as a ninja, doing missions. Happiness spread across her face, as she carried the colourless bird back to her apartment. She was at the window with the bird when Neji was at the bottom, staring at her curiously. He had come over to discuss their strategy for their next mission. He was leaning on a nearby tree after noticing Tenten's open window, and her standing there, doing something. After a few good minutes, Tenten turned towards her window, her hand cupped something, a small white head was sticking out from her hands, as she slowly opened her hands, letting a white small bird fly away towards the horizon, Neji stared at the beautiful bird which Tenten had just released, and stared in wonder at why she would do such a thing as setting a bought bird free, he knew she had a tight budget, and did not understand, he looked up towards Tenten. Neji saw the girl smile satisfactory when the bird flew away. She knew the bird was smart enough to find it's own food and water. She closed her window and went to sleep, completely forgetting she had a discussion with Neji that night. He left.

The next morning, Neji came to the training grounds normally, earlier than any others, and did what he enjoyed, count the birds using his Byakugan. Normally, every time he counted the birds, there were always occasionally eight birds in their area, however today, there was nine. He sat down on his usual spot and began to meditate, until Tenten made her way to the training ground, ready for another spar, a smile on her face. They sparred, and had their break. Neji had, for some unknown reason, doubled their break, giving her ten minutes than her usual five. Tenten did not understand, yet she shrugged it off as she and Neji ate some food, for the first five, and did what she liked best, lying down on the grass, staring up at the sky just as the sun rises, indicating that soon their teammates would arrive, and the rest of Konoha's residents would soon awaken. A small bird flew across the sky, Tenten's eyes widened in surprise when she noticed that the bird she had set free yesterday was the exact same one. Neji saw her reaction and stared up towards the sky, taking in the fact that it was indeed the same one. Neji's voice rang through the air.

"Tenten." He spoke. Tenten knew what he was about to say, and nodded, getting up from her spot and readying for another spar, before she threw a kunai though, she noted that the now free bird was eating some of the crumbs from the food she and Neji had earlier, she started the spar with a light and happy mood.

She knew she had set that bird free, she was the one who granted that one unique bird freedom from it's cage. She allowed it freedom, and she was satisfied that the bird was no longer prevented from it's liberty. Tenten noticed that she only had the intention to set it free when Neji told her about what he yearned and wished for, and what he compared himself to, a caged bird. She wondered if she could set Neji free from his fate, she knew it was not as easy as setting a normal bird free, yet she'll try. She would give it her all, after all, she developed some feelings for him, even if he does not feel the same, she would do anything for a friend.

The End

Kodoku: That was weird...O.o I thought is was quite pointlesstoo...It didn't come out as good as I expected it would, but mmeehh...If you find ANY spacing errors, blame it on FF . net I'm sure it messed up some of my other stories with the spacing...Oooh! AND sorry for any OOC is from the characters...I'm a horrible writer, as I have said before, so don't expect it to be error proof, and I'm sorry if there are an OOC!

Pleeeaasseeee Feel Free To Review, They're Greatly Appreciated!

If you want, you can flame, you can...just have a good reason behind it, cuz if you just put...

THIS STORY SUX! I HOPE IT GETS REPORTED AND TAKEN OFF THE SITE!

Like..dude..give me a reason why it sux so bad that it has to be taken off the site O.o

Yeah...I'll be leaving fellow readers!

-Kodoku