Thank you very much for all the lovely reviews, minna-san. I hadn't expected so many comments! Thank you again!
To clarify things:
First off, I'm terribly sorry for the way I portrayed Hiashi. I know he's a good man down at heart, but right now I need to focus on his darker side (pre-NejiNaru fight) because he's the only plausible villain I can use that actually works with the characters (Akatsuki has too many people, and Orochimaru's gone after Sasuke, so I need someone to relate to Neji, and Hiashi was the only one who had any authority over him). Once again, I'm terribly sorry for the OOCness, but please bear with me. bows
Also, Neji himself might be a little out of character as well, but because he was just newly created, I'll allow him time to grasp full reign of his self-control and emotions, yes?
ON WITH THE FICCIE!
Chapter 1: Silence of the Fox
The Next Morning
He cracked open one eye and graced the white ceiling with a piercingly intense gaze still glazed over with the remnants of sleep. Neji sat up and opened the other eye, running a hand through his hair…and then realized he was fully clothed. The Hyuuga sat upright, senses snapping to attention as he flicked an alarmed gaze around the room. With the speed of tinder catching fire, he realized he was in his apartment, quite a change from the greenish tint of the liquid he was so used to. His muscles relaxing, Neji quietly padded around the room and busied himself with what Hizashi referred to as "daily activities". That being done, he checked himself briefly in the mirror, fixed a few renegade strands of silk-smooth hair, informed Hizashi that he'd be attending school, and calmly walked downstairs to the garage, where he found a sleek black car in his designated parking area. Pulling out of the garage, the Hyuuga quickly merged with the traffic and easily parked his car in the university parking lot.
The first thought that entered his mind as he glanced at his school was that it was huge. Monokuromu University was a large, majestic campus with stately, glittering blue-and-white buildings scattered randomly throughout the area. Trees of all different species sprouted abundantly around the campus as well as a wide selection of shrubs and bushes. The sidewalks were immaculately designed to lead to different buildings and architecture, and gardens arranged in geometrical shapes adorned the rest of the landscaping. Quickly committing the scenery to memory, Neji deftly unfolded the square of paper on which his schedule was written, then turned and walked towards the heart of the buildings with a long, quietly powerful stride.
There were a fair amount of people at the university already, lounging on the rims of the many fountains or against a random railing or two, chatting idly to pass the time. It took them at most a minute to notice the new addition to their population as he deftly picked his way around the small groups, which considerably decreased the volume in the general vicinity. A slight falter appeared in his stride and Neji slowed, turning to face the first person his eyes fell upon, that being a group of people looking at him with a most abnormal expression in their eyes. They recoiled slightly as he came upon them, and the bizarre looks in their eyes only intensified as the Hyuuga graced them with the full overpowering magnitude of his presence.
"Excuse me, could you possibly direct me to classroom 786A please?" His liquid voice cut smoothly through the silence like a heated knife through mercury. After a long period of awkward silence loudly resonating from those questioned, a girl hesitantly spoke up in a timid voice.
"Uhm…t-that's…Multivariable Calculus, right? You'll want to…to go to that building over there and go to the third floor." Neji nodded his thanks more out of formality than anything else and turned to go.
"W-wait!" The Hyuuga paused and turned ever so slightly. A boy sitting close to the girl from before was now staring directly at Neji's tall form.
"Where are you from? We've never seen you around here before…"
He trailed off as Neji rotated the rest of the way and stared him dead in the eye, his expression curiously distant. A passing breeze blew by, ensnaring a few loose strands of midnight hair and blowing them across the Hyuuga's face. After a long, contemplative silence that coalesced in the air like an almost visible mist, Neji spoke in an odd tone glimmering with unshedvagueness and the faintest taint of confusion.
"I…I don't know. Far away, perhaps." And with that, he turned and melted into the glittering daylight, leaving only a faint silhouette impressed upon mystified minds.
Where indeed had he come from? He did not know. All he knew, all he remembered was being encased in a warm, welcoming environment of nothingness, then suddenly being exposed to the world beyond. He wracked his mind for any memories of a family, then recalled that Hiashi and Hizashi had somehow created him. Ah yes. He remembered now. He was the result of years of intense bio-engineering. He was the fruit of Hiashi's painstaking toil, nothing but a specimen to be observed and tested. And yet…and yet he didn't feel like a mere lab experiment. He didn't feel like anything at all save for a perfectly normal human being. And yet he knew that he wasn't, he knew that he was different…but what was so different about him, he did not know.
So lost in his thoughts was he that he failed to notice his immediate surroundings until they crept upon him and hit him point-blank in the face. A sharp pain stung his right forearm and instinct propelled him to the side just as a body hit the ground behind him. The figure stirred, then spat out a highly explicit invective and stood up, blood running from his mouth. He swayed, staggered, then adjusted his grip on his knife and shot forward in an outraged burst of speed, joining the whirling mass of violence just in front of the Hyuuga. Neji turned and calmly observed the scene happening in front of him. At first it seemed like nothing but a swirling mass of bodies engaging in something like a fight. Neji strained his eyes to catch any sign of movement, but the figures were moving too fast for even the normal eye to see. He strained his eyes even more to catch any hint of solitary movement.
The strangest sensation seemed to fill his body. All of a sudden it seemed like all the warmth circulating throughout his veins seemed to coagulate in his eyes, dripping in his optical senses like liquid sun. The pressure built up to a heated climax, and suddenly Neji could clearly see what was happening. A young boy sporting wheat-bronze hair and ocean-blue eyes was whirling and thrashing in the middle of the melee, singlehandedly defeating what looked like six large, burly thugs.
The Hyuuga noiselessly looked on, pearl-white eyes filled with shock and amazement as the lithe, slender blonde gyrated in a surprisingly controlled dance of fatality that felled opponent after opponent. Bodies were tossed helter-skelter, only to get up and plummet full-force into the fray. The blonde executed a stunning cocktail of stamina, precisely controlled skill, and power in return, slashing and fighting almost gracefully almost as if he had pre-choreographed every single action, perfectly anticipating each and every single attack with well-defined precision.
Each knife-wielding enemy he defeated, only sustaining a scratch as a souvenir. Blood from one opponent's broken nose pooled on the ground, and to Neji's horror the blonde slipped and fell on one hand. One brawny man, seeing his chance, executed a fast, downward thrust with his knife, running a long gash down the boy's fair face. He was met with a knee to the groin, and as he staggered away, the blonde regained his balance and danced with more ferocity than he had ever danced before. At long last, every last one of his opponents fell limp the ground and the blonde stood triumphant in the middle, the very image of a dastardly victorious warrior. Crimson libation streamed down his forehead from a gash stretching from hairline to jaw, and his arm dripped wet, gleaming carmine liquid as he staggered from the unconscious piles of flesh.
He lifted his head and stared directly into Neji's eyes, sending the Hyuuga a silent, desperate plea for help as he plummeted to the ground. Neji deftly swooped down, catching the limp frame and bracing the surprisingly light figure against his body. The blonde's head fell backwards, exposing eyes of the deepest aquamarine hue as he stared lifelessly into Neji's opalescent orbs. Lips quivered as the boy struggled to speak.
"Please."
It was a silent plea for salvation which shot straight to Neji's soul and played a slow, desolate, rolling arpeggio on the strings of his heart. The Hyuuga swallowed, his throat mysteriously blocked by a large lump, his heart turning into a puddle that was pooling somewhere in his general chest cavity. A long-fingered hand touched his brow and Neji nearly staggered, suddenly lightheaded with the unexpected overwhelming rush of emotion. Hizashi never warned him about this…these feelings he felt when looking at this boy. All previous thoughts of his class forgotten, Neji cradled the surprisingly light body of the blonde in his arms and gently laid him down at the foot of a fountain. Sending a noiseless apology to the blonde, he carefully tore a portion of the boy's shirt and gently blotted the blood from the various cuts and scrapes that adorned various parts of the blonde's body.
He lifted his head, squinted at the sun, and tactfully judged the time before returning to his task. He had a fair amount of time before class started; that was good. With a tenderness that surprised even him, he gently sponged and blotted out each and every single spot of blood from the boy's face and hair. That being done, he sat back and just stared at the fallen youth, absorbing each and every single detail about the blonde.
The boy's hair was a gleaming, silky golden-bronze color, with the occasional streak of bleached wheat slithering across at odd, random places. The bangs fell lightly over the smooth, sloping brow, which led to two sun-gilded eyebrows, and beneath them a delicate fringe of sun-emblazoned lashes which rested upon highly-sculpted cheeks. The nose was smooth and had a slender upward turn which gave his face a softened, innocent look. The lips were full and well set, which gave a perpetual quizzical twist to the line of his mouth. And his cheeks…Neji's eyes narrowed in thought. Upon each cheek lay three smooth slashes, engrained into his skin like whiskers. These didn't give him a roughened edge; quite the contrary, the scars only seemed to heighten his naïveté, giving his countenance a curious fox-like quality.
He didn't even notice his hand at first as it crept on a will of its own towards the blonde's features. Indeed, he was faintly startled when he first felt the smooth, pale, creamy skin underneath the pads of his fingers. This boy was a whole new experience, opening his eyes to the world and its wonders, far more fascinating than the solid, imposing steel walls of the laboratory which had served as his foremost home. He continued to stroke the face of the boy, stroking the brow, occasionally smoothing strands of heaven-spun silk from the eyes. Eventually he fell into a sort of rhythm, periodically running the back of his hand against the smooth cheekbones. This induced a hazy, soporific effect upon the Hyuuga, and he lowered his eyes to half-mast as he gently caressed the fallen angel before him.
He felt the pain before he saw the source. The next thing he knew, his hand was being twisted in a painfully awkward angle as five digits clutched it with an iron-clad grasp. Typhoons whirled savagely in twin indigo orbs.
"Don't touch me!"
The words pierced Neji's figure and flayed him alive with chips of steel and metal shrapnel. The Hyuuga recoiled, retrieving his hand with a sharp jerk. Just then, the blonde's sapphire-chipped eyes registered shock as he fully noted his surroundings and he withdrew, the belligerence dying away quickly to be replaced by a soft, gentle, somewhat apologetic look.
"Oh…I'm sorry. I thought you were…never mind." He looked away awkwardly, suddenly finding a stray blade of grass extremely fascinating. Neji smiled hesitantly.
"It is no matter."
The blonde lifted a hand and gingerly inspected the wound on his forehead, eyes registering surprise as fingertips came in contact with cloth. He looked down and saw that a portion of his shirt had been torn away, and that the figure before him still held the blood-stained scraps in his hand. The blonde's mouth thinned as he came to a series of conclusions.
"You…you cleaned me up…didn't you?" He asked timidly. Neji inclined his head in response.
"I am sorry for the tear in your shirt, but there was no other material available." At this the blonde smiled warmly, which seemed to miraculously strip away years from his face, giving him a certain purity despite his prior actions.
"It was an old shirt, don't worry about it." He said gratefully, then shyly extended one pale hand.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto…who are you?" The words came out in a timid, nervous whisper. After a moment's pause, Neji finally registered that he was supposed to grasp it and easily enveloped the hand in his own long-fingered counterpart.
"Hyuuga Neji; I'm a sophomore here at the University." Naruto's eyes instantly lighted up.
"Really? Me too! Hey, can you tell me where my first class is? I've got Multivariable Calculus with Iruka-sensei…"
A smile graced the corners of Neji's mouth and he stood, bringing Naruto with him in one fluid motion.
"I am headed there now. You may accompany me if you wish." He offered. Naruto's grin was more of twisting of his mouth.
"How come you speak like that?" He asked quizzically. Elegant brows creased.
"Is there a problem you find in my speech?" The Hyuuga asked, enticing a giggle from the blonde in return. Naruto cocked his head to the side.
"Noooo…it's just that…not many people speak in such a…how can I put this…" He worked his jaw, searching for the right words, then turned to Neji with the answer on his lips.
"A professional tone, you know? Heck, even the Math teacher doesn't speak that formally." He said matter-of-factly. The Hyuuga smiled slightly.
"I can always change colloquial, if you'd rather prefer—"
"No no, I like your professional tone. It compliments your image, you know?" Neji blinked.
"My image?" He asked. Naruto waved a flippant hand.
"Please, have you really looked at yourself in the mirror? As in really looked at yourself?" At Neji's negative answer, the blonde laughed.
"Have you ever seen people look at you in a weird way, almost as if they don't know what to say to you, like they have to absorb you completely before responding?" He asked. The Hyuuga thought back to previous encounters.
"I do believe so." He responded thoughtfully, which induced a wink and a smirk from his companion.
"That's because you're too perfect. Look at yourself. You have the smoothest hair, the slimmest, fittest body, your clothes are practically sketched to the contours of your figure, and your face could rival the best-looking celebrity in the whole face of this godforsaken world." For some strange, indefinite reason, Neji felt his innards turn to a warm puddle of slush at the words the blonde spoke. He turned and gazed curiously at Naruto's mischievous eyes.
"Do you really think so?" The comment sent Naruto into paroxysms of laughter at Neji's blatantly honest question.
"Of course. Mind you, you'll have to know how to fight; such handsome works of art like yourself are bound to be the target of jealousy for most of the male population." He waggled a scandalous finger at the Hyuuga.
"Not to mention the female population. You'll have to wear a poison-tipped chastity belt; girls can get murderous sometimes. Especially the ones in sororities, you'll have to watch out for them. But other than that, you'll do fine." He chirped blithely, then cut a quick glance at the sun above them.
"Damn, we're going to be late…I'll race you to Calculus!" He yelled, then took off like a shot. After a moment's time, Neji quickly followed, a rare, full-fledged smile spreading rapidly across his countenance.
Is this what a normal human is like?
Calculus
Naruto slammed open the door and promptly mowed over by the sheer volume of the teacher's tremendously incensed voice, courtesy of a pair of well-toned lungs.
"NARUTO! LATE AGAIN! THIS IS THE SEVENTH TIME YOU'VE BEEN LATE! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR THIS LUDICROUS BEHAVIOR!" He screeched. Naruto irritably ruffled his hair back into its usual whirlwind of blonde spiky locks, a brief scowl marring his features.
"Mou, sensei—" A vein popped in Iruka's forehead and a spasmodic twitch appeared above one eyebrow.
"It better be a good reason, young man, or I'll have you scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush." He snarled menacingly. To his surprise, Naruto perked up.
"You know, I actually do have a plausible alibi!"
And with a flamboyant flourish, the blonde stepped aside, bowed, and presented his quarry. The whole class immediately plunged into a state of awe, bliss, jealousy (the guys), lust (the girls), and utter shock and wonder as they indulged their eyes with the image of the really, really ridiculously good-looking newcomer. Whispers broke out that questioned the origins of this tall, dark, handsome stranger, of his romantic status, of the lack of color in his eyes. Neji stood in full magnificence in the doorway, eyes cast downward, the very quintessence of regality personified. Even Iruka stared. One side of Naruto's mouth curved upwards in an exultant smirk.
"May I present Hyuuga Neji, the latest addition to our fine class?" Each word dripped with excess amounts of sweetly saccharine syrup. Neji suppressed a chuckle and stepped forwards, sinking into a brief bow.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Iruka rehinged his jaw, gaping dazedly at the attractive new vision.
"Uhm…likewise. Have-have a seat." He gestured awkwardly towards two empty seats. Naruto immediately sat himself in the nearest one, pulling the Hyuuga down beside him. Iruka haphazardly cleared his throat, feather-duster ponytail bobbing.
"Now, let's start with the basics…"
Memo
To: QPC
From: SRN
Subject: Emotional confirmation
Content:
Sir,
Up until said date, subject has shown signs of normal behavior; however, at 9:43 A.M. at said date subject has shown erratic signs of emotion towards anomalous target at 36° 45°; observations include peak in hormone and enzyme levels as well as brain activity and lipids. Further analysis reveals emotional error; please advise.
Memo
To: SRN
From: QPC
Subject: Re: Genetic confirmation
Content:
Error may be to advantage; subject is not to be disrupted. Continue closed observation.
