Hidden Secrets Ch.6

"Well, I guess he really isn't abused…but still, it looks like a tattoo, but Neji said that it wasn't a tattoo." Lee thought to himself.

Gai found himself studying the marking also. "Ugh! Want am I doing? I know exactly what it is! Stop it Gai! Neji is hurt, focus back on him!" Gai mentally smacked himself and continued on with helping Neji. "Lee, Tenten! Focus!"

"Uh, Yes Gai-Sensei!" They both said, slightly shaken by their sensei's suddenly harsh tone.

"Good. Now look at this bruise on the side of his head. Note its size."

"Ooooh! That doesn't look good!" Tenten said, cringing.

"Gai-sensei! It looks like there is another forming underneath his bandages and straps!" Lee said. (A/N: Why does Neji wear those straps? If anyone knows, please tell me, I'm really curious)

"Excellent job Lee, however, I won't remove his bandages. I will leave that to a nurse to do," Gai stated as he started packing up his things, including Neji's forehead protector.

"You mean, we have to take him to the hospital? Is it really that serious!" Tenten asked, with a hint of panic in her voice.

"I'm afraid so. The bruises will heal on their own; however, it's best if a professional looks at it. Besides, a concussion isn't something that should be taken lightly," Gai stated, picking up Neji and placing him on his back, "Lee, take my pack for me, and Tenten take Neji's."

They quickly took off and headed for Konoha Hospital. (A/N: Wow….I went onto Narutopedia to find out how to spell Konoha….ended up reading it for like 3 hours…)

When they got there, Gai told Lee and Tenten to stay put while he explained the situation to a nearby nurse, who paged a medic. When the medic arrived, he took one look at Neji and immediately took him to a room.

"What are they doing Gai-sensei?" asked Tenten hesitantly, as her teacher walked back towards them.

"They are taking him for a MRI scan. The doctor said that his bruises looked quite serious, so they are going to check for any brain injury," Gai said calmly as he took a seat. He took note of his students' worried faces and tried to lighten the mood, "Don't worry! This is Neji we are talking about! He'll be just fine! In fact, he's always so serious that perhaps a bump on the head is all he needs to make him loosen up a little!"

"I guess," Tenten said, as she and Lee took a seat next to Gai, "so… what do we do now? Just wait?"

"That's exactly what we'll do! But why just sit here when we could be doing 500 pushups!" Gai exclaimed as he dropped to the ground.

Lee stared at Gai in awe, "Yes Gai-Sensei!" And then he too dropped to the ground and started his pushups.

"Ugh. Right, I'm just going to run down to my dad's store and let him know where I am. Hehe," Tenten said, trying to sound convincing. However it didn't seem to matter because Lee and Gai were too busy counting their pushups. (A/N: My story, my rules. Tenten lives with her mum and dad who are both jonin and own a weaponry shop.)

After a couple hours, a doctor came out from behind a door and called Gai over. They exchanged words for a few minutes before they went their separate ways.

"Well?" Tenten asked.

"The doctor says that Neji is fine, and will be ready to leave as soon as his uncle comes by and signs him out," Gai said.

"His uncle? Why his uncle?" Lee questioned.

"Neji lives with his uncle, Lord Hyuga," Gai explained.

"Yeah, but why not his parents?" Tenten asked, confused.

"His parents…. Passed away when he was very young," Gai pondered on his answer for a moment. He didn't want to lose Neji's trust, after all Gai did say he wouldn't tell anyone about his father's death.

"Aw, that's so sad…" Tenten said, looking down at her feet.

"Yes it is, however, Neji has made it frank to me that he doesn't like discussing the subject, so refrain from mentioning it. Do I make myself clear?"

Both of the genin nodded.

"Excellent, now let's go visit him."

Neji sat up in his hospital bed and rubbed his throbbing head. "What the hell happened? Let's see, I was training with my team…and we were… what were we doing?"

"Neji? Can we come in?" Tenten's voice rang from the doorway.

"Hn? Oh yes, sorry."

Tenten gestured for the other two members of his team to come in. "How are you doing?"

"Well my head is killing me. But fine otherwise," Neji said, returning to rubbing his head.

"THAT IS SO GREAT TO HEAR! DO NOT FRET NEJI! YOU WILL BACK TO FULL HEALTH IN NO TIME!" Lee yelled in his cheery tone.

Gai observed Neji cringed at the sound of Lee's voice, "Lee, I'm happy to see your youthful enthusiasm for Neji's health, but his head is already aching and your yelling isn't helping it." Gai turned back towards Neji, "Don't worry Neji; Dr. Yamaka said he had some pain medicine. He should be back any moment."

Neji nodded in understanding.

"Do you remember what happened?" Tenten asked, trying to fill in the awkward gaps.

"Not really. I remember us training, but I can't remember where we were or what we were doing or….ugh, point is, it's all a blurr," Neji said, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears.

"We were practicing running through the forest when Lee offered to race you. And half way through it, you must've slipped and fell down 30ft to the bottom. You should be grateful that a concussion was all you got." Gai said in a more serious tone.

"Hn. How could I have been so careless?"

"Believe me, I am," Neji squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to get rid of the pain.

"How's my favorite patient doing?" A voice rang from the door.

"Hn, he says that every time." Neji grinned slightly, eyes still shut. "My head is killing me."

"I can only imagine! I always knew you'd end up in here eventually when you became a ninja, but I never thought it'd be this soon! It's only been a few months!" The voice belonged to a tall doctor in his late thirty's. He pushed back his light brown hair, revealing his green eyes, and approached Neji's bed. "Lucky for you I have some pain relievers but right now all I have is an IV. Do you want to wait for some pills or would you rather have a needle in your arm?" Dr. Yamaka asked half chuckling.

"The needle. Now. Please," Neji's eyes flung open in disbelief that his doctor would even consider waiting for pills.

Dr. Yamaka blinked, a little shocked, "Well alright. And I thought you hated needles. Is the pain really that bad?"

"Yes. Yes it is. I'll willingly take a needle to make the pain stop."

"Hn. Then I better go get something a bit stronger. I won't be too long." The doctor left looking slightly concerned.

Tenten stared at Neji slightly confused, "How does he know you so well? I mean, he acted like he's known you for forever."

"He's my doctor…? I don't think that's very abnormal. Don't you have a pediatrician?" Neji said slightly pissed off at her dumb question.

"Well yeah, but he's like a legitimate doctor. He does surgeries doesn't he? Most pediatricians don't perform surgery."

"Who said he was a pediatrician?"

"I believe you did, my youthful teammate," Lee jumped in, also very confused.

"No, I said he was my doctor, I didn't say he was a pediatrician." Neji was very pissed off and was gripping his head in pain.

"But you-"

"Look. I feel like I was just trampled by a pack of horses that had hooves made of senbons. My head is on fire right now; and I'm in no mood to dawdle on this topic. It's really not that important."

The room fell silent.

"Okay then. We'll drop the subject." Tenten said, trying to stay on the Hyuga's good side.

"Did Dr. Yamaka say how long your uncle will be?" Gai stated.

"Ugh, I can't remember… Two hours? Three? He's currently in a meeting."

"A meeting? His nephew is in the hospital and decides to finish up his meeting!" Tenten was fuming.

Neji looked up at her in shock. He wasn't mad, just…shocked. His eyes grew huge in disbelief. "He looks so innocent and naïve right now" Tenten thought, still keeping her angry composure.

"He…He's in a meeting with the Hokage. It's extremely important."

"What? Why would the Hokage want to speak to him?" Lee asked

"Probably to reprimand him for being such a horrible uncle!" Tenten said, still mad.

"He's the head of my clan. I'm not allowed to know what the meeting is about, but I know it's very important."

"Your uncle is the Hyuga Lord!" Tenten trembled in fear, "Isn't he extremely strick?"

Neji winced in pain again, "Well…yes."

"Here we go!" Dr. Yamaka came back into the room, "this should do the trick!" He held up an IV bag filled with a clear fluid in his left hand, while a similar one rested in his right. The doctor set up the IV and prepared Neji's arm for the needle. "Ready?" The Hyuga shut his eyes and turned away from his arm. "1-2-3. See? Needles aren't as bad as you make them out to be Neji!" He placed a piece of tape over the needle to make sure it stayed in.

The Hyuga opened one eye and stared at the stinging spot in his arm, "speak for yourself."

Dr. Yamaka chuckled as he made his way to the door, "Very well, I'll be back to check on you in a half hour."

"Feel any better yet?" Lee asked.

Neji rolled his eyes, "No." "idiot."

Tenten observed the IV bag, "Oh wow! Hydromorphone! Don't worry Neji! That stuff is really strong I know because…." Tenten continued talking but it was only nonsense in the Hyuga's ears.

His eyes opened suddenly, "Did you say Hydromorphone?" he said slightly panicked.

Gai registered Neji's concern and ran to find Dr. Yamaka again.

"Oh yeah, it's really strong you won't feel any pain real soon!" Tenten said cheerfully.

Neji's breathing hitched and he stared at the liquid drip down the IV tube. Then he suddenly tried to rip it out of his arm.

"What are you doing!" She yelled.

He gave it another tug and the needle came out successfully. He threw it on the ground and examined his arm; it was bleeding a bit. His eyes were wide with panic and he breathing grew heavy as he stared at the IV pole in incredulity.

"Yosh! What is the matter Neji? I thought you wanted pain relievers?" Lee questioned.

"Y-yes, just not that type." His voice was shaky and his eyes returned to the sight of his arm. "I hope none got into my blood. That was a close one."

Dr. Yamaka ran into the room and to the Hyuga's side. "I am so sorry Neji! I had your medicine confused with this one." He held up the same IV he had in his right hand before. "Please forgive me, Neji, I almost killed you."

"Killed him?" Tenten said under her breathe.

"There's a patient a few rooms down that needs this one, and I carelessly forgot to read the labels," He took off the bag of Hydromorphone and replaced it with the one prescribed to Neji, "I see you took care of it though," looking down at the needle on the ground.

"Tenten fortunately read the name and told me. I took it out immediately." Neji said, still a bit distraught.

"Very good. Well you don't seem to be reacting, which means you took it out in time."

"Thank God."

Dr. Yamaka gave Neji a band aid for his arm and inserted the correct IV. He then left.

"What just happened?" Tenten asked very confused.

"I'm extremely allergic to Hydromorphone." Neji said, calming down a bit.

"How allergic?" Lee asked.

"'You heard the doctor! He could die from it!" Tenten smacked Lee on the head.

"Yosh! I did not know it could be so severe!"

"Lee's right, that's a weird to be allergic to…and it's not like it's very common. How do you know you're allergic to that? It's only real purpose is for like…serious surgeries."

Gai listened in on the conversation, knowing exactly where this was headed, "Tenten, I don't think-"

"It's fine, Gai-Sensei" Neji said. "When I was born I was diagnosed with CHD."

"What is that?" Lee asked.

"Coronary Heart Disease."

(A/N: Go read "My Little Soldier" by Migoto Nami, to understand my CHD reference)

Tenten's eyes grew wide, "What? Why?"

"My mum had always had a weak heart, and I guess it was passed down to me. Beside from that, when I was about 2 years old, I had open heart surgery to stop the pain and to prevent the same fate as my mother. After the surgery, which Dr. Yamaka performed, I was put on Hydromorphone… and I guess I reacted poorly to it. I was too young to remember what happened…but my father said it wasn't good."

"Dr. Yamaka performed your surgery?"

"Yes, I've been coming in to his office every few months for Coronary check-ups. That's why he knows me so well."

"Oh wow. That's a lot to go through…" Tenten said sympathetically.

"Hn."

"Ugh, and we were doing so well with not saying 'hn.'"Tenten sighed jokingly.

"Hn"

"If you do not mind us asking, what was the fate of your mother?" Lee asked, staring down at his feet.

"Lee…" Gai stared at his student in dismay.

"Well my mother, as you can imagine, passed away from cardiac arrest."

"Aww…I am so sorry" Tenten looked like she was about to cry.

"It's alright; I was barely a year old. I hardly remember her…however she is the reason why I received the heart surgery. So all in all I'm grateful." Neji sat back and relaxed, his headache seemed to disappear.

"An…And your father?" Tenten asked nervously.

Gai stepped into the conversation, "Neji, you don't have to tell them if you don't want to."

The boy looked down at his hands, "He…died protecting our clan." He reached up to his forehead to find his hitai-ate, "Where's my forehead protector!"

"Oh! I have it!" Tenten said, retrieving it from her pocket and handing it to Neji, "Speaking of which, we saw that weird mark on your forehead after you fell unconscious… and since we've seen it…I was wondering if…you could maybe tell us about it?"

Neji sighed. He could tell he was in for a long interrogation.