Disclaimer: Kishi just owns.
Author's Note:
Tada... almost complete. This is essentially the epilogue. This was intended to be a very short one-shot. But somehow it wound up
turning into 22 pages.
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The next day Neji made a formal apology to Hinata, one which was long overdue.
He made Tenten come along for some reason. The drama was remarkable to witness,
and the Hyuuga girl of course forgave him almost instantly.
She even apologized to him for not helping him earlier on and always standing by watching him suffer,
never doing anything about it.
--
"Let's change together Neji-niisan!" And change he did, in more profound ways than even those who knew him understood.
--
Not only did he patch up his relations with Hinata… he also started to grow closer to Lee.
It started the day he decided to join the rest of his team on the daily morning run,
and realized that even though he had the stamina to keep up, the challenge came in keeping his cool
when Lee was nearly constantly challenged him to a race.
--
"Never tell Lee he can't do something… he'll die just to prove you're wrong." Those were Tenten's words.
--
That lesson was a very hard one for Neji to learn,
especially considering Lee broke his leg again racing him up a particularly steep hill.
--
Neji's well-meant 'This hill is too steep for you,"
somehow wound up turning into a challenge Lee couldn't resist.
The problem with developing your conscience is
the problem of the also having evolved a sense of guilt when it came to events like this.
Despite both Lee and Tenten's assurance that this wasn not Neji's fault… he still took it upon himself
to help Lee with training and crutches for the entirety of the subsequent weeks of his recovery.
--
Those weren't the only relationships which grew. After coming to the decision of being less selfish in training,
Neji began to teach Tenten the basics of meditation.
Soon this became the regular activity after the morning run,
and since neither Lee nor Gai had ever been particularly interested in meditation
(they considered the activity a 'waste of youth'), doing this was just the two of them.
--
Neji even began to teach Tenten a few of the Hyuuga katas (those which did not require the Byakugan).
It was supposed to be forbidden to people outside of the Hyuuga clan… but you have to realize
that when it came to these kinds of things 'forbidden' meant the same to Neji as 'couldn't' did to Lee.
--
Somehow inadvertently this made Tenten more curious about Lee and Gai sensei's style of taijutsu as well.
Thus she took to watching those two practice in the late afternoons after her own daily late-morning spar with Neji.
Sometimes when she felt like it, she even participated in a light match or two with Lee.
Soon she developed her own melee style taijutsu that was a blend of the precise strikes of the jyuuken
and the hard-hitting power hits of the brutal fist style.
--
The effectiveness of this style was never put to much practical use however,
because she still very much preferred her weapons.
Although there were a few times on missions she ran out of weapons and instead of running away
she could now hold her own for a while before Lee, Neji or even Gai came running in to save her.
As a kunoichi this sometimes annoyed her. But as a girl and growing young woman she couldn't help but feel
secure in the knowledge that she had such wonderful men to protect her.
--
The world of ninja can sometimes be cruel and harsh. But what makes it worthwhile is when the harshness is erased by love.
Pain fades away when you're held in the arms of a white-eyed bishi. Sore muscles never seem so bad
when you're cheered on by two gun-ho spandex-clad cheerleaders.
And in the end it was love that made the difference. It was love that made them strong.
'We'll never be alone when we have each other'...
--
Happiness… ze end!
Author's Note:
Aaaand done!