A/N: If you want to read this you SHOULD have seen at least to episode 37 in the anime, not sure when in manga. Anyway, this starts right before the Hinata/Neji match in the preliminary Chuunin final exam.

Disclaimer: Ichii and Etchi do NOT own Naruto (but boy… if we did… -drooling-… --'… ehe, anyways, we do not own it, and the only thing that's ours it the plot. Read and Enjoy!)

The Purity of White

By Ichii and Etchi

"He knows the crimson of rage, and the azure of despair... But his eyes will never change; the purity of white."

Neji stood glaring at his cousin. He hated her. Everything from her ugly blue hair to her blushing cheeks and her stuttering. Her pale, insecure eyes that would look at anything but him. He could tell she hated being there as much as he did, having to fight someone lower in status but way superior in strength. Her total lack of self-confidence seemed to spit him in the face, tell him that even though they both knew he was the better shinobi, it didn't really matter. She would always win, no matter how this match ended.

It was in the middle of the chuunin exams. He had passed the first two exams without any difficulties, and now he was here. In front of her. He had been avoiding her for as long as he could, but now it seemed that his luck had run out. He never seemed to have any luck. Not with his life, with his destiny. And what's luck anyway? Everything was decided by fate and that was final.

So when he saw their names on the big flat screen, he sighed. It would be tough to remain calm and in control of his feelings. He took a deep breath and carefully kept his eyes away from the grandstands, not wanting to make things worse than they already were. If he saw him now, he knew he'd snap.

He was closer to loosing control than he ever had been before. And he despised it, not being in control.

"N...Neji-nii-san…"

Neji bowed his head with the slightest hint of irony, and replied coolly "Hinata-sama."

There was a mumble in the audience when Hinata greeted him as family, and it grew slightly louder when everyone heard his icy reply.

Neji flinched when he heard Naruto and Lee's high and obnoxious voices echoing around the half-empty stadium and turned his head around before he managed to stop himself. He saw Lee explaining to the others about the house and the families of the Hyuuga clan.

He felt more then saw everyone turn their eyes on him and hurriedly looked down again, almost praying that they hadn't seen him watch them. That would be way too troublesome.

This was where the judge deemed it fit to interrupt.

"…-cough-…Please, begin the match…"

He nodded towards the judge, steeled himself and spoke, "Before we do this, Hinata-sama, let me warn you about one thing. Give up."

He heard the gasps from the grandstands and saw that his words worked their way into her already fragile mind. He smiled inwardly and continued.

"You're not suited to become a ninja. In fact, I'm quite surprised you even made it this far. Your team mates must've had a hard time taking care of you." He ignored the murmurs from above the arena and closed his eyes. 'You're not even suited to be alive.'

He looked up, and the veins around his eyes became visible as he activated his Byakugan. He frowned as he heard more murmuring from the grandstands, no, he didn't want to think about that now. He had to focus on the match.

"You should quit being a ninja, Hinata-sama. You're nothing but a spoiled brat from the head family."

The whole arena gasped when they heard his cruel words and he let a small expression of sheer sadistic glee flash over his face. His cousin had reacted just as he knew she would - the arm, the eyes. He thanked heavens above for the basic psychology lessons everyone received in the academy. It was way too easy for him to attack her weak psyche, and that was exactly what he intended to do. Crush it. Crush her.

He closed his eyes once again, only for a short moment. He drew all his awareness into himself, shut off everything else, disabled all of his natural alarm systems. He would be completely defenceless against an outside attack, but for now, all he wanted to do was enjoy the look of complete horror on his cousin's face.

"N…No. I-I… I wanted to… I wanted to change myself… So…So I willingly…"

All Neji did was look at her with a contemptuous glare and she immediately shut up, her eyes fixed on the ground. His smirk couldn't have been more feral.

"People cannot change their destinies, Hinata-sama. Everyone judges you by your face, head, abilities, body shape and personality. These are things that you cannot change. Just like how we can't change that you are from the Head family and I am from the Branch family."

Silence reigned in the large stadium and he continued his mental assault on his now shivering cousin.

"My Byakugan has seen many things. That's why I know. You're just trying to be something you're not. You are really thinking about how you want to leave this place right now-"

"No!...That.. that's not true… I… I really want to…"

Hinata's interruption only made him colder. How could she, how dare she, she knew she was wrong! She had no right to think she could change, fate had already decided everything!

"You can't fool my eyes! I've already seen how this will end." He frowned. "I saw the way you reacted. First, your eyes moved to the top-left corner. This indicates that you are recalling a past event. A harsh past of yours." He snorted. As if anything she had ever lived to see could match up to his daily torment.

"After that, Hinata-sama, your eyes moved to the bottom-right. This indicates that you are imagining physical and mental pain. In other words; you imagined yourself and predicted the outcome of this match from past experiences. A prediction that says you will lose!"

Hinata visibly flinched when he said his last words, and Neji cruelly pressed on, right where he knew it would hurt the most.

"Your action of putting your arm in front of you shows that you want to put a barrier between you and me, to create some distance. You do not want me to know your true feelings," Neji said, and felt the hatred grow inside him. He knew what her true feelings were.

His frown grew deeper when he saw where her eyes flickered. Damn her and damn her fucking feelings. He knew exactly whom she was watching, and that just made him want to hurt her more severely. But he didn't care - he kept watching her. He knew he would never get his revenge for all the things she and her family had done to him, and to his father… But that didn't mean he couldn't torture her when the perfect opportunity came falling down into his lap.

"That you keep on watching the grandstands shows that you wish for nothing else but to leave this place," he continued, "that you want to be rescued by someone bigger and stronger. That is not going to happen. This is your fate and you cannot change it."

Neji's deep voice echoed through the arena and he saw his cousin move her arm again…ah, perfect.

"That action you just made – touching your own lips – is an action to show that your mind is processing a disturbing memory. It is a defensive instinct that tries to lower nervousness and uneasiness. In other words, you know already… that you cannot change your destiny."

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

This time, Neji couldn't help hearing the outside world. That was the one voice he'd never be able to simply dismiss.

"Stop labelling people like that, asshole! You can change, if you try! Don't say thing like that, teme!"

Neji saw Hinata's face light up and some strength return to her pale eyes. Kuso. That was unneeded. And it would make everything much, much, harder.

He glanced up over his shoulder at the people standing there. At him. The blonde little dobe who never knew when to keep his mouth shut. Neji had to fight back a small smile from showing. Even though all he wanted to do was strangle his pathetic cousin to death, that loud-mouthed dobe could always make him smile even though he didn't want to.

"BEAT HIM UP, HINATA! WHY DON'T YOU TALK BACK! IT'S MAKING THE PEOPLE WATCHING ANGRY!"

Neji could see Kakashi stifle a chuckle and he felt almost the exact same. No one but Naruto could ever use that sort of logic as a legitimate argument. But then Neji turned back to his cousin and all that useless mirth simply melted away to give room for his burning rage and hatred.

"N…Naruto-kun."

Neji froze. He hated it when she said his name with that tone full of awe and hope. She shouldn't be allowed to say his name like that, she shouldn't even be allowed to talk to him! He could see the courage return fully to her eyes, and the hopeful expression in her face only seemed to make his anger grow faster. Her body started moving itself slowly into a traditional Hyuuga defensive position, and he knew he'd lost this round.

"So, Hinata-sama, you are not going to give up? Then I ask you not to blame me later on."

"…I…I don't want to… run away… anymore…"

Neji smirked as he saw her do the necessary hand seals and shout the familiar "Byakugan!", but he didn't care about that. All he saw in front of him was his chance to take revenge on those people - and the family who had hurt him so much. All he saw in front of him was a pair of cerulean blue eyes that he knew would never be his.

"Neji-nii-san. Let us fight."

"I'd be delighted to."

-End of Chapter One-

Hokay, so. Whatcha think? Good, bad? Leave a review with your thoughts, opinions and questions if you have any. Chap 2 will be up as soon as possible. -

Arigato!

- Ichii & Etchi