Title: The Other Neji
Rating: PG
Characters: Neji, and some unexpected guest stars
Word Count: 916
Summary: Neji's not terribly comfortable with what he's about to do.
Author's Notes: This HAD been the first chapter, but I moved it so I could put something funnier at the front. :-p

Hyuuga Neji padded around the edges of the darkened room, glancing briefly at a window. The night sky outside was clear, and a crescent sliver moon hung just over the horizon. He used his byakugan for a moment to scan the streets around the building. No one seemed to be approaching his current position. Good. The fewer people who knew what he was about tonight, the better.

Walking slowly, Neji passed by a circular table where a group of men sat, talking with one another. This close, they could certainly notice Neji, so rather than rely on stealth, Neji tried to be as unobtrusive as he could. He didn't want to call attention to himself, more than necessary. His own attention was fixed on the one well-lighted part of the room. A woman stood there now, bent over a handful of papers, reading from them. The time would come soon. Neji's target lay just before him. In just a matter of minutes, the woman would move away, back into the shadows of the room, and then Neji would make his move.

One of the men at the nearby table glanced up, and surveyed the room. His eyes roamed freely, until they came to rest on Neji. Still slipping through the shadows at the edge of the room, Neji tried to pretend he hadn't noticed the man's gaze, continuing his slow advance. Then, to his horror, the man whose eyes had begun following him opened his mouth to speak. "Neji, is that you there?"

Neji bit back a curse and turned to regard the speaker. No chance to escape notice now. He would just have to hope this little encounter wouldn't compromise his purpose in being here. Something about the speaker's voice tugged at Neji's memory, but in the faint light of the room it took him a moment to discern the speakers' other features. A long scar cut across the man's face horizontally, running over the bridge of his nose. Recognition struck Neji. Despite the casual clothes the speaker wore, so different from how he was usually dressed, this man had been his teacher once. "Iruka-sensei. I didn't expect anyone to be here tonight. Not ninja, at any rate." Neji spoke in barely more than a whisper.

Iruka bit off a laugh, far too loud for Neji's ears. "Are you kidding? Tonight? Who'd want to miss this?" The academy teacher gave Neji an appraising look, and then a smile. "There are a bunch of us chuunin here tonight, and even a few jounin I think. No one would pass up a chance for open mi-"

"Hyuuga Neji?" The voice came from the next table up. Neji turned to see the masked visage of Hatake Kakashi staring back at him. Kakashi, too, was dressed to blend in rather than to stand out in this place. "Oh, if I'd known you were coming, I would have ordered Naruto and those guys to be here as well." The jounin sounded positively giddy. Neji was sure that mask was concealing an enormous grin. "You should have friends with you! No point doing this alone, kid."

Except alone was exactly how Neji had wanted to do this. He had a sudden feeling of anxiety, like how he felt when someone was aiming an attack into his blind spot. Scanning the room again, Neji started paying more attention the faces of the men around him. Quickly, he discovered two more teachers from the Konoha ninja academy and fully six ANBU members who Neji knew only vaguely.

It felt as if a ball of ice had formed in Neji's stomach, a sensation he was unused to. This task had seemed so easy, until he realized just how exposed he would be until its completion. The woman ahead still hadn't moved back into the shadows, so Neji tried to take the opportunity to restore his cool demeanor. It took more effort than it should have, but thankfully there were no more interruptions from ninja he knew.

Finally, the woman rolled up her sheaf of papers and stepped back into the darkness. There was some sort of noise, too, but in Neji's anxious state the sound didn't really register in his mind. Neji willed his feet forward. They stuttered for a moment on the wood-panel floor, but soon settled into a swift walk toward the back of the room. His pretense at silence was abandoned now. Neji just wanted this task to be finished. He nearly tripped over something in the darkness, until he realized he had to step up about ten centimeters to reach the area where the woman was standing.

He walked towards her, clinging to his determination, and the woman resolved into Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of Konoha Village. She flashed a small smile (or maybe it was more of a grimace) at Neji, and he felt a sudden, violent urge to run in terror. Fighting for calmness, he continued his advance, maybe moving a little faster now. Tsunade opened her mouth as if to say something….

…And Neji ran right past her, into the spotlight at the front of the stage. He stepped to the microphone and cleared his throat, fishing his own packet of papers from a pocket of his white jacket. "This first poem is called, 'Fighting Destiny'. I hope you enjoy it."

A small chorus of golf claps echoed around the coffee house, and from the direction of Iruka, Kakashi, and the other Konoha ninja, even some cheering.

I don't own Naruto. No, really. Is that okay with you?