Most adolescents enjoyed having a snack between training sessions and Neji was no exception. If anyone in his team heard his stomach growling (which they didn't), they kept the comment to themselves. Mostly. Gai did not have much of a survival instinct, after all.
As usual, training did not come to a stop until the sun had disappeared behind the faces of former Hokages. He downed what was left of his water before Gai waved with nauseating enthusiasm.
"Don't forget to bring snacks tomorrow, Neji, your fullest potential will never be realized if you're half starved!"
Neji bit back a scoff while Tenten tried and failed to hide her laughter as he passed by. Without turning around or offering a farewell he continued down the leafy path. Not a step was taken without an irritating crunch echoing behind him. What was even more irritating was the absence of a second pair of feet disturbing the leaves ahead of him.
Even after a month since leaving the academy, his mind failed to wrap itself around the idea that he had finally achieved what he so dearly wished for. He was destined to remain at the beck and call of the main house, but joining the ranks of the village's shinobi enabled him to keep a distance from them.
From her, his treacherous mind whispered. She had done nothing, in all reality. And that was the problem. She had rendered Hyūga Hizashi's sacrifice worthless by allowing her birthright to be taken— by gifting it to her sister who may or may not be sympathetic to the plights of the clan's retainers.
What infuriated him was the hope she inspired in the branch house. The awaited benevolent leader that they needed. In the end, she crumbled that very hope herself by choosing to save one child over all of them.
What infuriated him the most…
He came to a halt outside his room. Lunch had long since been served and yet a tray with steaming tea and the alluring scent of warm food rested right at his door. He crumbled the note neatly folded and addressed to him in a fist before letting it fall. The tray disappeared into his room.
Exactly five minutes later the screen door slid open and a quick hand also took in the no longer pristine note. The paper stood out as the only article on a bare nightstand as it started collecting dust with time.
What infuriated him the most was his fickle heart and how it allowed her to continue sowing seeds in it, rendering him incapable of hating the nobility in her desire to protect her younger sister from the very curse that plagued him.
