When the mist had cleared, Harry found himself staring at the back on the shy girl with dark blue hair that stuttered like professor Quirrell from his first year.
Next to her was a sickly looking man with big bulging bags under his eyes and hollow looking cheeks. He had spiky hair that hung down, with the same headband with the same symbol he had seen the new exchange students wear.
Across from Hinata, Neji was standing there. Harry knew them to be easy going with each other, but here, Neji was looking at Hinata the same way Snape looked at Harry when he was about to dock points.
"I never dreamed we would be fighting each other, Hinata-sama." Neji said tonelessly.
"N-Neji nii-san…" Hinata stuttered.
"Now, let the match begin!" The sickly man shouted.
If this is a match, Harry thought. Then he must be the proctor.
Neji stepped forward. "Before we begin…"
"There's something I'd like to point out to Hinata-sama." Neji said, staring intensely at Hinata.
Hinata twitched slightly.
"You are not cut out to be shinobi. Withdraw from the match!" Neji commanded.
Hinata gasped and looked terrified from him.
A twinge of curiosity shot through Harry. He had seen them exchange conversation lightly, without a breath of hate in Diagon Alley, but now it seemed that Neji despised every bit of Hinata.
"You're all sweetness and light." Neji spat. "A peacemaker, not a troublemaker. You're easily led, not a leader."
Hinata looked down sadly.
"You have no confidence. You've got a world-class inferiority complex. So I know you'd be more comfortable staying at Genin level." Neji said, still staring at her.
"But applicants for higher-level chuunin selection exam must compete as a trio…" He continued, not once blinking. "And you couldn't bear to let your team-mates down. The truth is, your participation has been reluctant from the start…hasn't it?" Neji hissed.
"N-no…you're wrong. I…I really…" Hinata started in the soft voice of hers. "Wanted…to change myself. So of my own volition, I…"
"Hinata-sama." Neji cut in, this time glaring. "You're the sheltered baby of the main branch, aren't you?"
"W-what?" Hinata breathed.
"A leopard doesn't change its spots." Neji finished, his eyes narrowing.
Harry felt a twinge of dislike go through him. What Neji said was wrong. What he said was very wrong. Everybody changes themselves throughout life. Harry inwardly snarled.
Hinata's eyes widened in shock.
"A failure always fails. And a weak personality won't become strong." Neji said.
Harry glared at Neji. Neville before was always forgetful and a pushover, but in the end, he stood up to Malfoy, and in the end even him, Ron and Hermione was well.
"It's precisely because of the unchanging nature of humankind that differences between people who are born…Its' why we've coined terms like 'Elite' and 'Failure'." Neji said, this time, with an edge.
"It doesn't matter who you are. We're all judged on the basis of our looks, our intelligence, our talent, or our personalities…Just as we judge others in turn." Neji said, watching Hinata closely with his pale, emotionless orbs for eyes.
"Yes, it's a form of discrimination. And the factors that its based on don't change. We have no choice…We just live within the boundaries set for us by the judgments of others. It's as unchangeable as the fact I'm of the cadet branch of the Hyuuga family…and you're a member of the main branch." Neji growled quietly.
Hinata looked like she was going to cry any second now.
"I've seen through many things with this all-seeing byakugan eye…This courage you're displaying is just a bluff!" Neji snarled. "In the truest, deepest part of your heart, you're desperate to run away from here right now."
"N-no…" Hinata whispered. "I really want to…"
She paused, her eyes widening in fear. Harry looked over her shoulder, and was astonished by the sudden appearance of popping veins surrounding Neji's eyes, and some seemed to reach into his eyes as well.
Hinata stared at him for a moment longer, then averted her gaze. She brought her hands up in front of her face, as if trying to hide behind them. Then, she began to tremble violently.
"My eyes can't be deceived." Neji announced quietly. Hinata gave a forceful shudder.
"Just now, to escape my stare…you averted your own eyes." Neji said, shocking Harry. Were those eyes really that penetrable? Harry thought, staring into the veiny, emotionless white orbs.
"Glancing towards your upper left, it signaled your recall of a past experience…one that brought you pain." Neji said, glowering at the poor, trembling girl in front of him.
"When you subsequently glanced to the lower right, it indicated that you were envisioning physical and mental agony. In other words, you recalled your own previous experiences, and based on those memories…you imagined the outcome of the match."
The way Hinata looked; Harry knew the sad truth that everything Neji was saying was terribly true.
"You foresaw…you own defeat!" Neji growled. Hinata trembled more fiercely, gaping at Neji.
"Even now, as you bring your arms up in front of your body as if to shield yourself…your body is signaling your desire to raise a wall between us…to create some distance from me. You implore me to come no further, to peer no more deeply into the innermost secrets of your heart…because everything I have said so far has been right on target!"
Hinata began to pant and sweat at the same time out of distress. Harry looked pityingly towards her. If he was in her place, he too, would've done the same.
"In addition…" Neji continued. "They way you're touching your lip…it's another of those intimate, tender behaviors that expresses the agitation of your heart. It's a defensive reflex, an attempt to ease your anxieties and doubts."
Harry could see tears forming in Hinata's eyes as she gazed at Neji with fear and horror.
"It's completely clear…whether you admit it or not…that you are aware…that you can never change your self!"
"YES SHE CAN!"
Harry looked around to see who suddenly yelled out. In his surprise, Naruto was glaring at Neji with the utmost level of anger above them.
"YOU CAN'T JUST ARBITRARILY DECIDE THESE THINGS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, YOU FOOL! SHOW HIM, HINATA! BEAT UP THIS IDIOT!" Naruto roared.
"Naruto…" Hinata whispered, staring up at him.
"COME ON, HINATA! AT LEAST TALK BACK TO HIM! JUST HEARING HIM IS MAKING ME MAD, AND IT'S YOU WHO HAS TO FIGHT HIM!"
Hinata looked down, speechless.
Neji glowered at Naruto, apparently annoyed.
Neji looked up at Hinata, and Harry swore he saw the slightest bit of alarm go through Neji's eyes.
"So you're not going to withdraw?" Neji asked. Hinata did not respond. "Then I won't be responsible for what happens here."
Hinata clenched her eyes shut, and Harry saw the same veins pop out beside her eyes.
"I don't want to run anymore!" Hinata said in a that's-final sort of way.
"Neji nii-san, let's fight." Hinata called to Neji, sliding into a fighting stance Harry did not recognize after all these years watching people through display windows in martial arts classes when Uncle Vernon took him and Dudley through London.
Neji slid into the same fighting stance as Hinata.
"Okay then…" He agreed.
Hinata and Neji rushed towards each other at the same time, each with their hands poised to attack.
Harry watched with amazement as Hinata and Neji blocked each other's attacks at the same moment again and again, blue vapor-like substances flying out forcefully when the two hands hit.
Hinata's foot slid backward, and she raised her hand and let it shoot out. It hit Neji's side, and he fell back, grunting in pain.
For a moment, Neji's and Hinata's legs crossed, and their hands did as well. Hinata pushed his arm back, and thrust a glowing blue hand forward, slamming it on Neji's chest.
Harry grinned slightly, thinking that Hinata had succeeded in hurting Neji.
Hinata choked, and blood gushed out of her mouth. Harry ran over to get a better view, and was horrified to find Neji's blood stained hand on her chest, and a finger poking her arm.
"So this is the full extent, of the main branch's strength?" Neji asked calmly, but with a slight bit of arrogance in his voice that made Harry shudder with annoyance.
Hinata's eyes narrowed, and despite her horrible internal injury, screamed a battle cry and forced her hand forward to land an attack on Neji's face.
Neji's hand flew to her arm, stopped it, and poked a spot on it.
For a moment, the air was thick with tension. Then, Neji suddenly reached out and pulled Hinata's sleeve. Her arm was covered with angry red dots and spots.
"It can't be!" Hinata choked out. "You mean…from the very beginning…?"
"Precisely!" Neji hissed. "My eyes can detect the tenketsu!"
Tenketsu? Never heard of it. Harry thought, racking his brains for a definition of the word tenketsu. But not even Hermione had ever mentioned it before.
Without warning, Neji flipped up his head and hit Hinata hard, pushing her off her feet.
"AIEE!" Hinata screamed in pain, skidding a good few feet away from her attacker.
"Hinata-sama," Neji said, his arrogant face contorting. "This is the unalterable difference in strength. The distinction that separates the elite from the failure."
"This is the unchangeable reality." Neji said, looking down on Hinata with a look as though she was something disgusting he found in the toilet. "From the moment you said you wouldn't run, your defeat was inevitable. The only possible outcome was your present despair."
Hinata cocked her head a little to glance at him, panting harshly and heavily. "Withdraw!" Neji insisted.
"…I…" Hinata gasped, picking herself off the floor. "N-never…go back on my word…because…that is my shinobi way too!"
Hinata's gaze hardened a bit when she met Neji's eyes. "Come here." Neji ordered, shocking Harry with the similarity of Voldemort's commanding tone.
Hinata suddenly recoiled. "GACK!" She clutched her stomach.
A great deal of blood spattered on the ground.
Neji slid into his fighting stance, acting as if Hinata had not just coughed out some of her life blood.
"HANG IN THERE, HINATA!" Harry heard Naruto bellow from the upper sidelines.
As if on cue, Hinata glared at Neji and dashed towards him with a hand poised to strike. Neji's hands blocked hers, and again and again, Hinata attacked and Neji blocked, as if it would never end.
But then, Neji, as if tired of blocking, rammed his hands on her arm, sliding it downward, and swung up a strong hand up to her face.
"AAGH!" Hinata screamed as Neji dealt another blow to her face. Blood shot out of her mouth like a river.
But she got up as soon as she fell and lunged at Neji with her hand poised.
Neji did not appear surprised as he slid past her outstretched arm easily and with astounding speed smashed his hand onto the spot where her heart was located.
Harry stopped himself from rushing over to catch Hinata as she fell, realizing that doing that wouldn't help.
Hinata did not make a sound, the determination still in her eyes as she fell. Her eyes glazed over slightly, and she fell facedown on the hard ground.
"Seeing as the match cannot go on, I-"The proctor began, raising his hand. "DON'T STOP IT!"
Everyone's heads were turned to Naruto as he yelled.
"What are you talking about, you idiot? She's got nothing left already! She's already collapsed!" Sakura screamed at him.
But she paused as everyone gasped and stared at the battle ground below them. Hinata was struggling to get up, her whole body trembling like jelly in an earthquake.
Neji stared at her with an air of a man not knowing what to make of it. "Why are you getting up? If you push too far, you really will die…" He hissed, his eyes narrowing.
Hinata looked up, smiling slightly, the Byakugan retracted from her face.
"T-This isn't over yet!" Hinata shouted in her soft voice. "You're not fooling anyone. I can see with these eyes, it's taking all of your strength just to stand!" Neji interrupted.
"You were burdened from birth with the destiny of the Hyuuga clan's main branch…You've hated yourself and punished yourself for you own weakness and frailty. But you can't change your nature…or change your fate."
Harry did not know what to make of what Neji was saying and had said; parts of what Neji said were true, but other parts weren't. Harry winced; Neji was starting to reveal too much information about Hinata.
"But you need not suffer anymore. Be at peace!" Neji said, somehow thinking that this ending speech was meant to comfort anybody.
"B-but you're wrong, Neji nii-san…" Hinata pressed, her eyes hardening. "I can see it now, that even more then me…It's you who are torn and suffering…caught between the destinies of the main branch and the cadet branch of our clan!"
Neji flinched rather harshly. Must've hit him hard… Harry thought, staring from Hinata's calm face to Neji's enraged one.
From the corner of his eye, Harry saw the proctor shiver as he saw Neji's eyes narrow in anger.
Suddenly, Neji dived at Hinata with his arms behind his back.
"Neji, wait! The match is already over!" The proctor shouted in alarm.
Neji stopped. Harry blinked, and almost yelled out in shock.
Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai and the proctor surrounded Neji; Kakashi had grabbed Neji's left arm, Kurenai had her grip on his right, Gai had put his arm around Neji's neck, and the proctor had put his two fingers on Neji's headband.
"Enough, Neji!" Gai started to say, but what he said after that Harry did not know, because the mist had appeared again. Harry sighed.