Persepolis130
Notes: Thanks for the great reviews last chapter- nobody even screamed at me! Just as a note, I didn't include a yaoi warning because I don't consider rape to be yaoi (or yuri, or het, etc.). It's just rape. Hinata's coming up next chapter, honest!
CHAPTER 10
Neji awoke the next morning in his own bed, stiff and hazy, sometime before sunrise. His head throbbing dully and tongue feeling like cotton, he managed to drink the glass of water set at his bedside and read the note telling him his sensei had been alerted as to his absence today.
He couldn't manage to think about anything other than the fact that he really wanted to go back to sleep, so that's what he did.
When he next awoke, the sun's rays through his window showing the morning had begun some time ago, he felt as if he'd been sleeping for days. The headache was gone though, and Neji wondered if there had been something medicinal in the water. When he looked for the glass, he found that it had been removed, along with the note; he couldn't say who'd left them.
Drawing himself slowly out of bed, he realized the bandages that usually covered the right side of his body were also gone. On closer inspection, he found that he'd been bathed sometime during the night; his skin was soft and clean, and his hair was slightly damp. Filing this information away (since there was nothing he could do about it anyway), Neji re-wrapped himself and pulled on some clothing with the idea of training. With any luck, his team would still be there.
He managed to leave the estate without anyone seeing him, most likely because it was near mid-day, and preparations were being made for lunch. On his way to the training grounds, his stomach began to protest, so he decided to stop on his way for something quick, preferably food he could eat as he walked. Winding through the narrow streets of Konoha, Neji entered the dining district, scanning the signs for easily digestible fare.
He was about to pass the sweets shop, with its nauseatingly sugary odor and gigantic horizontally-suspended model of dango when he was noticed.
"Neji!"
Turning, he saw Tenten, along with two other girls, eating sweets. He supposed he had no choice but to join them, at least for a moment.
"Oh, I was so worried!" Tenten exclaimed, rushing toward him. "You weren't feeling well yesterday afternoon, and you didn't show up for our date, and then Gai-sensei said you were sick! Do you feel better now?"
"I'm fine," he told her, wishing she wouldn't say things like that quite so loudly.
"Here, come sit with us!" she said, grabbing his hand and leading him inside. The other two girls giggled and blushed, one of them waving. He recognized them as the female components of Kakashi and Asuma's teams, but he'd never bothered to learn their names.
Finding Tenten's behavior overly familiar, he pulled his hand from her grasp.
"She was just telling us about the restaurant you took her to. I SO want to go there!" the blonde told him, waving her dumpling stick for emphasis. He noted the bad manners with disdain.
The pink-haired girl nodded. "I wish somebody decent would ask ME out! I mean... not that Lee-san isn't sweet, but..."
Not at all in the mood, Neji decided to end this. "If you'll excuse me, I have to find something with some semblance of nutritional value before I train."
"Oh, just a minute, then we'll go!" Tenten told him, motioning toward the bench next to her. "Come, sit."
He hated this, being shown off.
"You two are SUCH a cute couple!" one of the girls exclaimed. Neji glowered. He hated her saying that; he hated her.
"Yeah, Tenten, like you were meant to be together!" the other added. Neji gritted his teeth. He couldn't stand this anymore.
Grasping his arm, Tenten giggled. "Well..."
And suddenly, it was all too much.
He flung Tenten from his arm, sending her flying across the room. She crashed into the next table, falling to hit the mat-covered concrete floor with a dull thud.
The other girls gasped, frozen with shock.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded harshly. "Taking hold of me in public! I put up with your brazen advances as far as it pleased me, but now you've crossed the line!"
A look of utter astonishment covered Tenten's face as she peered up at him from the ground.
"Any girl can lift her skirt like a whore, and a man has every right to take advantage of it," he announced. "If you want to be slut, it's no concern of mine, but don't assume it means you're something special to me!"
Her eyes widened, filling with tears, and she shook her head in disbelief. "...no..." she whispered, "...Neji, don't..."
He ignored her plea, glaring down at her. "Your reputation may not matter to you, since you're a NOBODY who'll amount to NOTHING. But I am a Hyuuga, a member of a noble family, and I don't want people thinking I'd lower myself to your level for anything more than a casual fuck!"
"No, no, no!" Tenten cried, tears streaming down her face as she rose to her feet, reaching out a trembling hand. "It's not true! It's not! Neji, I love you! I swear it!"
Neji turned his back to her, crossing his arms. "Well, I don't love you. Now get the HELL out of my sight before I get angry."
He noticed how loud the sound of her footsteps was as she fled, only now realizing that a hush had fallen over all the usual, happy lunchtime buzz. The entire street had gone silent, everyone stopped dead in their tracks. They were all gaping in the same quiet disbelief, some with shaking heads or hands over their mouths in shock.
Raising his chin high, Neji paid them no heed.
"You..." he heard a loud voice break the silence, and he turned his head disinterestedly toward its owner. "You," the pink-haired girl's face was a burning crimson, her fists balled at her sides, "are a TOTAL ASSHOLE!"
Neji grunted, meandering off in the direction from which he'd come. "Yeah," he said over his shoulder. "That's me."
XXXXX
He managed to make it a few blocks away to an uninhabited alley before the burning acidic contents of his stomach reemerged, and he braced himself against a wall as his abdominal muscles convulsed painfully. The vomit splattered against the broken brick walkway, some of it hitting his toes, but he hardly noticed.
He was trying too hard to hold back the tears.
Because all those horrible things he'd accused Tenten of, none of it was about her. Tenten was a sweet, hardworking, reliable girl who'd never done anything to deserve that kind of treatment. She wasn't a whore, a slut, a nobody.
Neji was.
Spitting the taste from his mouth, he was trying to wipe the tears off his cheeks when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, the vicissitudes of youth! One moment, we are soaring in the clouds of victory, and the next, choking on the dust of defeat!"
Neji hung his head at the sound of his sensei's voice. This was NOT the person he wanted to see right now.
"I know life can challenge a man's spirit, but with courage and strength, you will prevail, Neji!"
This was not helping his mood. Really.
"And tomorrow, the next stage in your life begins! You are now the captain of your team, set to lead them to glorious triumph! Your first mission, Neji, your first chance to show the world your fortitude and wisdom!"
Oh, shut up! Please...
"For your illness, I have procured a remedy straight from the Hokage herself! ...or... well, actually... not quite STRAIGHT... though I'm fairly sure she'd approve it... hahaha!"
Neji groaned.
"But anyway! Come with me, Neji, and no one shall tie you down! Never shall you be downtrodden, crushed beneath the heel of society, forgotten by"
"Gai-sensei, I won't tell anyone I saw you there," Neji muttered. "Our secret. Honest."
His sensei looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck, a strange and disturbing blush raising to his cheeks. "Ah... alright then..."
Neji sighed and spit once more, wiping his eyes again for good measure. "I'll be ready for the mission tomorrow."
Fist in the air, Gai beamed forth the tearfully joyous smile he usually stored up for Lee, and Neji shook his head as he turned toward home.
To tell the truth, he wasn't displeased Gai-sensei had found him though. After listening to his ridiculous proclamations, he felt so much better he could almost contemplate one day thinking about smiling again.
After all, Neji might be a worthless whore, a slave to the Main House's desires, but at least there was still one person on this planet more pathetic than he was.