Ehh...shorter chapter. It's short, but there's a LOT of stuff in it. Naruto should be coming into the story soon! And then the jealousy factor and such. So please keep reading, and I'm so sorry I'm updating so slowly! Forgive me.

Chapter Three

Neji's POV

Later that night, I'm meditating in my room, thinking of the days' events. I'm trying to maul everything over in my head, and I'm failing horrible. "Dammit." I swear quietly to myself, leaning my head against my door, and opening my eyes. I continue to stare at my ceiling in my small room, wondering about Hinata.

I know what I'm doing is wrong. But there's a part of me that truthfully wants to help Hinata obtain her dream, even if it means that I don't get to have her. Naruto is a good person, even if I don't want to admit it. He's kind and he treats Hinata well. But in my mind, I don't see him ever really loving her as more than a friend.

Maybe those thoughts need to be suppressed — perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe it's possible — but I don't want it to be possible. That would ruin everything I've been working so hard to get at. But how do I make Hinata notice me, love me? It's not an easy task, and it's a frightening one at that.

It's too late for me to talk to her now — it's almost 2 A.M., and if I'm caught sneaking down the hallway, I know that I'll get in some major shit over it all. Sometimes, I can't help but dislike Hiashi. After all the suffering he put Hinata through, he somehow manages to keep her in tact, and to make it all seem okay. It's like he's pretending to be someone he's not.

Not that I have the right to talk. I'm being a pretender. I am no Naruto. I am no one that Hinata would want as more than a friend, because she never has. That hurts, for me to admit it, but I do, just for the reason that I need to be able to understand myself before I can ever understand her. Because in so many ways, we are alike, and yet so, so much different.

But even if I was a Naruto duplicate, would she love him? For some reason, I just can't believe so. The one she loves is Naruto, and it's for her own reasons — maybe it's just the way he is that makes her smile, that rare smile, laugh that rare laugh. I want to hold her high and steal her pain, I want her to be able to smile at me like that, to wrap her arms around me and laugh into my chest, while I hold her and we dance around my room.

I want to lay a kiss upon her lips.

I want to hold her close to me at night.

I want to see her laugh.

I want to see her smile.

I want to have her be mine, I want her love, her smiles, her laughs, her touch, her lips, to belong to me. Yet, it all seems so horribly impossible, I can already feel the tears threatening me. I may be strong physically, but I know that like Hinata, I am ripped up on the inside.

A thought occurs to me, and it makes sense. Maybe Hinata likes Naruto, not just because he has such a big ego, but because he's like her. I have heard of Naruto's past from my family. He was abandoned as a baby and no one ever took care of

him, besides Iruka and the Third Hokage. He never had a family to raise him or anyone to look at him and smile down at his accomplishments. He never had that luck. And neither did Hinata or I.

I have no parents. He has no parents. I have family. He has no family. But his bonds with his friends are much stronger than mine ever will be. However, I realize I truly am a lot like him. Maybe more like Sasuke, but still like him. I have a rivalry with one of my good friends. I determined to prove myself, to get revenge, as he is. He is infatuated by Sakura. And I, by Hinata. Perhaps we are not so different. But I can not expect Hinata to see these similarities as easily as I have, for she is blinded by the likes of Naruto.

I am lucky. And yet, I am not. Naruto is lucky. And yet, he is not. The one with it worse, I can't help but believe, is not me. It isn't Naruto either. Hinata. She is always in pain. She tries so hard, but never seems to get a hold of her dreams. Her family full-out rejected her. Weakling. Shame to the main branch. Fool. Child. Those were names her father called her. Child may not seem harsh. But when Hiashi says it, his voice so cold it would make ice jealous, it can scar you. I have been called these things, but only when Hiashi was very angry.

And I was never called a shame. I was merely a cadet branch child, I was supposed to be in no way connected to him, but he was my uncle, and no one could avoid that. I was adopted by them. But I will always be a protector, to the main branch.

Which is one of the reasons I feel I stand a chance. Hinata is the main branch. Perhaps I will be told to protect her? I pray and pray every now and then, even ever so briefly, that one day, Hiashi will assign me to protect Hinata, even if it means I must die. I would gladly die for her. Isn't that what love is? Perhaps, yet, I can't figure why I haven't gone wild and tried forcing myself upon her before.

I, luckily, have self-control. I am very strong in that area, controlling my emotions, being able to keep myself under control. I have never lost it in front of anyone since my father was killed, and that was when I was four. I'm seventeen now, and I look into the mirror, brush a pale hand across my cheek, and see how much I've changed.

Incredible. In the darkness, I pick up a photograph of Hinata from when she was a child. Her face is gentle as she stands next to her father and mother in a lavender and pink kimono. Her large eyes stare into the camera, and she is all I concentrate on. I continue to eye the photo before looking at a family photo that was taken not so long ago. Hinata is smiling that same smile, and she looks very pretty in a larger version of her child kimono. Her long hair is braided down her back, and I sit next to her, an arm leisurely around her shoulder, just as the photographer had told me.

We look so peaceful, and I clutch the photo to my chest, tears trickling down my cheeks.

"Hinata..." I murmur, setting the picture down and staring at her smiling face. She looks like she's actually enjoying herself. I run my finger across the pale cheek she has, just like mine, and see we are like identical twins, just like our fathers. So alike, yet so different.

I sit down on my bed, and begin to brood. All of these thoughts are crowding my mind, it's very hard to concentrate on only one. So I close my eyes, and merely think about Hinata. Her eyes. Her hair. Her smile. Her skin. Her blush. Her slim figure. Her curves.

Everything. It's all filling up my mind, and I realize how childish I must look. Yet I just don't care. All I can think about is her. What is this? Why is it happening now? But I don't mind. This is a good feeling. Warm. Something I enjoy.

Well, sorry it's so short and stuff...But I like this chapter. Again, I'll try and update soon. Soo...I won't give up!