A/N: thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last bit! It really pushed me to write. Here's Day 2…the mood's a little different…it's Neji's fault!

As always, read, review, and make my day!

Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine, neither is Kiba…or Neji…(damn!)

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Day 2:

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Hyuga Neji stood outside the village's hospital, debating whether he should follow his uncle's orders and check up Hinata or if talking to a medic-nin about her condition would be a sufficient alternative. There would be other reasons for him to visit her of course, reasons his conscience would list repeatedly were he to bother listening.

He knew an apology was in order and although his conscience pressed the point, his pride flatly refused to believe it. A fight was a fight after all, a match was a match. One of the two contenders was supposed to win at any rate. So what if it had been him? Did they expect him to go easy on her because of all his sickening ties to her? Did blood and duty require that he surrender becoming a Chuunin too? He had done what needed to be done, he told himself…but one could only deny so much. He had to admit to himself that he had crossed the line with his last move. In the last few minutes of the fight, the situation had shifted from a formal match to a personal vendetta. Moreover, his actions were unforgivable…even if she had seen through everything and read him like a bleeding book…

And it had hurt.

Hinata may have been quiet and soft-spoken but Hinata had never missed a beat.

"I can see that you are suffering more than me."

And he had realized then and there that he had not hidden it well enough.

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It was well past lunchtime when Kiba left the hospital and thought of getting Akamaru back from Hana's care after visiting Hinata for the second time that day. Not much change. She had been asleep for the last two days.

Kiba had sat there for two hours, not quite knowing why, with Akamaru getting impatient every now and then until a medic had told them not to get their hopes up. She was going to survive—he had been told this the day before—and would wake up eventually but probably not for some time. The anaesthetics she was given were quite heavy for someone her age, kunoichi or not, but they had been required for the surgeries.

The medic then had then gone on to tell him that ventricular fibrillation had almost led to a heart attack in her case and damaged her circulatory system rather severely. Her blood flow and charka flow were both irregular and disturbed but for now, they were focussing on getting her heart to pump blood regularly again and the essential amount of charka. Getting her to completely recover her previous strength would happen with time and a great deal of it too.

No one had expected him to fully understand this of course, even though he did quite well. He just didn't care about such details. He wanted her awake and talking and he wanted to know for himself that she was going to be okay…watching her pallid, frail, sleeping figure was just not convincing enough!

Naruto did not come by that day, nor had Kiba really expected him to. Quite truthfully, it was a miracle the boy had finally noticed her, Kiba thought, smirking inwardly on Hinata's behalf. What she saw in him, he would never understand. He was rowdy and more than a little obnoxious sometimes, but then again—other than Hinata—who wasn't these days?

So, Kiba concluded, Naruto wasn't so bad…and if he finally stopped being such a dunce and realized that Hinata was crazy about him and if he actually fell in love with her too they and got married and lived happily ever after, Kiba decided he would not mind. Not too much, anyway.

Shino, when he had come by the hospital later, had jadedly told him of his own training. The boy was torn between Kurenai and his father, both of whom wanted him to focus on their respective speciality techniques. Kurenai would lecture him about higher level genjutsu and his father would stress upon using the kikai that were his Aburame legacy.

Shino also mentioned that it was interesting how Kakashi-sensei had handed Naruto over to someone else, Sasuke being his topmost priority now.

Kiba didn't much care. He only hoped that Naruto would miraculously become invincible over this next month and beat the living daylights out of that smug little bastard who called himself Hyuga Neji.

And speaking of the little devil, he was right outside the hospital, leaning against a wall when his pale eyes caught Kiba's.

Kiba gave him a death glare and Neji more or less returned it. Really, what else did Kiba expect?

"How is Hinata-sama?" the boy asked coolly.

This,Kiba did not expect. "You have some nerve to ask that! Don't tell me you care!" Kiba barked a short, bitter laugh.

Neji shrugged. "Her father wanted to know."

Oh yes, the family connection. It would probably kill him to care. "Couldn't come himself now, could he?"

Inwardly, Neji wanted to ask the same of his uncle. "Suppose not."

"Shouldn't you be training for the main matches?" Kiba asked, irritated.

"My training is my business," Neji said briskly.

Whatever. It wasn't as if Kiba honestly cared to know. His palms were itching to at least give the white-eyed boy a hit or two and he probably would have followed through had Naruto not talked to him about it the day before. Kiba didn't have too much faith in his next words. "Train hard then because Naruto's going to kick your ass!" It felt good to say them nonetheless.

"I doubt it," said Neji indifferently. "He lets his emotions get in the way far too much. It's harder to win when you have personal grudges on your mind."

"You're one to talk," Kiba snarled and started walking away.

Neji wanted to kill him for that. They sounded too much like Hinata's words. Too close to the truth.

"Kiba!" The Hyuga called out.

"What?" Kiba whipped around.

"It wasn't my choice to fight her." The dog-boy had never really mattered much to Kiba but he didn't want any misunderstandings either. Even though Neji was easily on the better end of any fight he chose to pick, it usually wasn't a habit of his to hold grudges without good cause. Without very good cause.

"But if you had a choice, you would have picked her," the boy's face was getting almost as red with fury as the clan-markings painted on it. "It was one hell of an opportunity to finally let all that anger out, ne? You know, I don't even have a problem with the match. I had just expected you to be decent enough to stop once it was over!"

Neji did not quite know what to say to that. No, he would not have chosen her if he had been given a choice but he didn't think there was any point in saying that to the Inuzuka now. Someone or other had obviously told him everything and well there was no use in denying it.

"Some family you are," Kiba spat. "Cousin tried to kill her, her old man couldn't walk twenty minutes to see her…I'd much rather be alone than have ties like that!"

Neji watched him leave this time, not finding it worth the bother to stop him. Although part of his mockery was justified, the boy clearly had no idea what he was talking about. Nor did he know that Neji, never been given the choice, had to deal with both.

Kiba couldn't understand having horrid tie to a horrid family which still left you with nothing more than the luxury of a name perhaps and all else was summed up in one simple word: alone.

Same for Hinata, he would realize, if he dwelt upon it long enough but that was something he did not allow himself to do. There really was no use in thinking about it and he had tried not to…still, if he were to, it could not be denied. The Inuzuka wasn't completely wrong.

Neji gave the hospital building one last look and started walking back to the Hyuga house.

Tomorrow, if he finished training early, he decided he would pay Hinata a visit.