Neji
He paces. He walks quickly, back and forth on the hard, stone floor of his mind, trying to formulate a plan to escape from the depths of the dark place. Occasionally, he rattles the bars of the cage, to see if they were any weaker. They are not, but he is. His breathing is ragged, clothes torn, thin from the lack of nutritional love. "How funny it is," he thinks, "that They refer to me as 'he', but treat me inhumanely, cursing me. Does that make me an 'it'?" They laugh and jeer at him from outside his prison, for They are not inside and They don't know what it's like to be stuck, stuck inside this mental jail, seeking but unable to find a way out, knowing that love simply is not. What is love in this world, for he has none. It is an unfamiliar term in which he cannot relate to. Why can They not dig deeper, look closer, to see what he is? To see how he feels? Everyday, he prays that he will be freed, soaring above like a bird in the wind, that They will stop. But they never do. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel he keeps digging himself deeper into, yet no one else s brave enough to follow his footsteps, so there is no one there to hold him back when he has gone to far. He is in agony.
Tenten
She is left in the dust, dust in which she claims to be the reason for her silent tears, tears that can fill up an ocean, and ocean of underestimation. Could no one see how strong she really was? How strong she tried to be? But trying isn't enough, They said, you must be, and do. She hits every mark, every bullseye, but she cannot touch the real target, to be recognized, to be seen. To have respect. This was her dream, to reach her idol, to live the life she's always wanted. Alas, reality cuts into dream, leaving faithless, broken people. She has been cut down, laughed at, made fun of, but she continues to go forward, dragging her heavy dream with her, trying to catch up with reality. "Fall seven times, stand up eight," she tells herself, using her anger to fuel her, because she has nothing else to push her, no name, no family, no true story. Reality laughs and leaves her behind, but she keeps calling, keeps working to have money for just enough food to keep her alive; unlike her colleague, she has no one to support her, no teacher to show her the way. When her energy runs out, she is too tired to do more. She falls to her knees, completely out of breath, and drops her dream. She is in pain.
Lee
He flashes a thumbs up and a smile, a smile that hides the pain underneath, a mask that he has painted to put on display. He cannot do anything, they chuckle. Nobody believes he can, he can become , he is able to rise to the top, even though They say that he isn't as good as the caged bird, he cannot fight. Despite this, he tries, no number can say how many hours he tries, how many tries it takes. He does not get love, he learns, he must earn it. He spreads it out to the world, grins at every passerby, waves at every friend, nods at every teacher. But no one returns it. Nobody returns the happiness, but he is powered by his determination. One person sees this, and takes him under their wing. They teach him, train him, motivate him, shape him into something people respect. He gets hurt then, his life comes crashing down. They say, "Give up your dream, kid. There's no way you're going to get there." Yet he continues. He fell in love with a girl that he continues to try and impress. But she belongs to someone else. She is not his, will never be his, but she has taken his heart. He tries to take hers, but to no avail. He is beaten down by his rival, but he keeps smiling and trying. He is heartbroken.