Finally the second chapter!! I apologize for taking too long. I've been very busy lately. So, I hope you enjoy this one as much as the first one!! And thank you all for the reviews! LOL

I don't own Naruto or its characters.

Chapter two: The next day

The next day Neji woke up feeling horribly tired. He gently passed a hand all over his face, just to discover dry tears marks on his cheeks. A heavy feeling suddenly crossed his chest, making him feel puzzled. He searched for the hour on the clock next to his bed, and found out that it was seven o'clock in the morning; too late for his usual awakening time. He got used to wake up at six o'clock thanks to Gai sensei's fault. He even woke up at five or earlier whenever he had to train with Lee. Lee… they where eighteen now, and they had become very good friends. He will probably be worried about him for not appearing to the training today, but he would have to forgive him, because for the first time in his shinobi's life he wasn't feeling like training at all.

He sat up in his bed, still confused, and got conscious of his headache. It was new for him that he woke up feeling as if he had a hangover, not that he had had one before. He then went to the bathroom, and washed his face on the sink with cold water. 'I wonder if… if Hinata sama is feeling better today' he thought to himself.

And then he remembered the events of last day; and I mean that he remembered everything, since the moment he left Ichiraku's to the moment he left his cousin lying on her bed… and her peaceful face…

Remembering her peaceful sleeping face made him feel weird. He dried his face with a towel and then turned to look at his reflection in the mirror…

"What the…" he whispered, as he found out that his cheeks were turning red. He studied his reflection as if he had never blushed before… He had actually never seen himself blushing. Why was he blushing?

He tried to not pay much attention to this. He changed his clothes and left his bedroom, but not before giving a glance to the clock. Thirty past seven. He still had time enough to train a bit before breakfast; he really wasn't feeling like training, but it might help him to forget his headache, and his weird feelings.

He walked through the almost empty hallways, for the servants had already waked up. He reached for the path to the training grounds, but, before arriving to it, he turned to face the hallway that leaded to Hinata's bedroom. Why did he have this messy feeling on his chest? What was this concerning feeling? Why did his cheeks suddenly felt heated? Something wasn't ok with him… He was probably getting sick and had fever or something like that.

He was so concentrated in his thoughts that he didn't realize that he was walking the way to Hinata's room, and before he could even say 'Byakkugan' he was standing in front of her door. He was about to knock, but he regretted. What if she was still asleep? He used his byakkugan instead. He was right, she was still asleep. He left her and made his way to the training grounds. He would have time to talk to her later; besides, he was feeling too weird standing in front of her door. Hopefully, she will wake up on a good mood.

Hinata opened her eyes. Staring at the clock on the wall in front of her bed, she found out that it was forty past seven. It was very late; she usually takes breakfast with her father and sister at seven. It was weird, though, that nobody came to wake her up.

Then she remembered: the chunnin exams. They probably left her behind because they thought she was too tired from her last mission.

Images began appearing inside her head, since the beginning of her last mission, to the meal she took with her team after coming back to Konoha… and then Team Gai arriving to the place… and then the probably most horrible image ever came to her mind…

She began to cry again. The pain was still there; she was hoping that it would magically disappear after a night of painful crying, but it didn't, and the wound was still as fresh as yesterday to her.

She suddenly heard the impact of wood against a wall; someone was training on the near training ground. 'Neji kun' she thought to herself. She made an attempt to sit on her bed, but she couldn't. The pain was too much, and the heavy feeling on her heart was wining the battle against her will. Tears were falling through her cheeks. The sadness was killing her from inside out.

The sound stopped. Neji had finished his training. She now asked herself why he wasn't on the chuning exams, not that she really cared. She heard someone opening and then slamming her door on a very violent way. She could have sworn that Neji came in, but it couldn't be. Why would he do that for?

"Hinata sama" he said breathless because of his suddenly interrupted training and his crazy race to her bedroom. He was staring at her moving from the suddenly opened door to Hinata's bed side "Hinata sama… Are you alright? Is something wrong? Why are you crying again?" he asked as he approached even more to her bed, confirming that she was crying. She turned and looked at him with wet eyes, not daring to answer nor able to sit.

He closed his eyes, blocking the byakugan. He had seen her while training with his kekei genkai, and saw her crying, maybe without the intention of spying, but still, he looked at her crying from the corner of his eye. And he stopped his training, forgot his headache and run to her, to find her, to see her.

"Hinata sama…" Neji continued "please don't cry." He stood quiet for a moment; his inner self was asking him something like 'What the hell are you doing?' Hinata hide herself inside her sheets, not answering to his begging look.

Neji felt frustrated. He had the hope that she would awake feeling better, and that everything would go back to normal. But of course, he had never been so in love as Hinata, or… had he?

"Hinata sama!" he said as he removed the sheets that were covering her face. She didn't move, but she did take the sheets off from Neji's hand and covered herself again.

"L-leave me alone, Neji kun. I… I'm not feeling o-ok today" she said with a very weak voice.

"I can see that" he replied with a frustrated tone of voice "I don't understand" he continued, raising his tone "He doesn't worth" he said; too angry to control the raising on his voice now "He doesn't worth enough for you to be crying for him!! You don't have to cry for him!!"

"What do you know?!" Hinata took away the sheets and sat on her bed; a furious pair of pearl eyes looked at Neji's equal ones "I loved him!! I… I still love him…" and she began crying again.

A painful feeling crossed his heart, hurting him like a very heavy arrow. Neji didn't see that coming. He had never heard Hinata screaming. She had actually never screamed like that, he could tell.

"Why?" said Neji "Why do you love him so much?" he could feel his voice breaking inside his throat "Why…?"

And then he froze. Not because of Hinata's surprised face, but for what caused her surprise in the first place. He felt a small tear running down his face. He felt desperation. He felt anger and a sudden desire to kill Naruto, but of course he wouldn't kill him; and finally, he felt sadness and that awful heavy feeling on his heart again, only that more painful now if possible. 'Why?' he asked himself for the second time 'Why do I feel like this?' 'Why am I crying?' 'Why am I feeling like this?!'

He couldn't let Hinata see his confusion and frustration. He then turned around, facing the door, ready to leave now.

"I… I'll leave you alone" he said, trying to control his voice "if… if you need something just call me…"

He dried the tears with his sleeve, but no matter how hard he tried to stop crying, he just couldn't.

"Neji kun…" she whispered as he closed the door behind him.

Neji walked in silence through the not-so-empty hallways, ignoring the questions of the servants and not even daring to look at them. He walked as a spirit in pain on a graveyard; not that he believed on ghosts. When he arrived to his room, and after closing the door very carefully (he wasn't paying much attention, by the way) he searched for the mirror. He had to be sure. It couldn't be. He wasn't crying again. His face was not red. He could not be blushing again. That couldn't be truth.

But it was. He was breathing very slowly, as if he found it hard to normally breathe, when he looked himself in the mirror; sadly for him, he found a red face with tears running down his cheeks. He felt so confused that he sat on his bed, too confused to do something. He tried very hard to put himself together.

After a few minutes he finally stopped crying, but not without a great effort. He was about to stand up when he heard someone knocking the door.

"Neji nisan" said Hanabi's voice "are you coming to the chunin exams? Father sent me for you two…"

"I… I'm not going; I have something to do" he said as he stood up, and went to the door with a determined look on his face. He opened the door and ignored Hanabi's questions. "You better go check on your sister."

And without anything else, he left. He left and ran, very fast by the way.

He didn't know exactly where he was going, for he just ran. That annoying confusion and the heavy pain still incrusted on his chest.

And then, before he realized, he was standing in front of Lee's door. Subconsciously, his body took him to the only place he wouldn't search for help.

But, why not? He needed an answer, and didn't know what to do or who else could help him and Lee was his friend; he was actually his best friend, and he would never deny him help.

He was about to knock the door, I mean, he raised his fist to knock it… but he regretted. What was he doing? It was stupid, running like a crazy man searching for help. It wasn't logical, and it was definitely not something that a Hyuuga genius would do. He could handle this issue by himself. What a fool he was.

He turned his back to the door and, after a moment of hesitation, he left. Inside of the apartment, Lee thought he had heard something. 'My imagination' said Lee to himself.

Neji needed to clear his mind. He was too confused to neither do anything nor concentrate on anything. So, he went to Team Gai's training place, and threw himself on the fresh grass. Staring at the clouds, and allowing the tears to come out, he began searching for an answer to his messy feelings.

Hinata was depressed. She really was. Hanabi knew it. She didn't want to leave her bed. She probably hadn't eaten today. Why was she so sad? Hinata had requested her to leave the room, and when she said didn't want to, Hinata screamed at her to go away. Hanabi got so scared that she ran off the room. She then heard her crying even more loudly. She had to look for help. This was too much, first Neji and then her sister. Had the world just gone insane?

Hinata felt helpless and weak. Neji felt helpless and confused. Hanabi felt helpless and panic and ran to find her father, who was peacefully watching the chuning exams.

Hiashi arrived an hour later. He walked with a worried look on his face through the Hyuuga compound. He stopped on Hinata's door. Not sure about what he was going to find, he knock the door and called her; when he didn't get an answer he opened it. Hinata wasn't there. 'Troublesome' would be a very good word to describe the girl in that moment.

Neji had spent the last hour trying to calm himself, with not much success I must say. Still, he wasn't crying anymore; in fact, he was kind of angry. He had been searching for an answer in any single part of his mind, and found none. He couldn't explain his desire to kill Naruto (he knew that it wasn't his fault that Hinata was in love with him, and it was certainly not his fault that she never told him her feelings. Still, he wanted to kill him). He couldn't explain why every time Hinata spoke about her feelings for Naruto he felt so much pain, anger, and lots of more unknown feelings, like his desire of stop Hinata's pain as fast as he could.

And the most important fact: why does he always blush whenever he sees her or think about her? He had felt the warm feeling of blushing for about four to six months… The difference now was that he finally understood that he was in fact blushing, and the feeling was not the weather's fault, or a sudden fever, or an abnormal disease. No, it was in fact that he was blushing.

He sat on the grass and cleaned his face with his forearm. He stood up, ready to leave, when he saw someone (or better, he felt someone) on a near tree.

"Are you feeling better now?" asked Lee's voice from the top of the tree. He then jumped from the tree and landed near Neji.

"Lee…" he couldn't believe it "How long have you…?"

"Some minutes before you left my apartment. I knew I heard something, but didn't expect it was you. But, let's leave that for now…Why are you in so much pain, my youthful friend? Whatever it is, I promise I'll help you as better as I can!" he then gave Neji a blinding smile and a 'thumbs up.'

Neji stood froze for a few seconds as he processed the information; he then gave a weak smile to Lee.

"Don't worry about me, Lee, I'm fine…" he lied "I was just…not feeling ok."

Lee gave him a severe look. Maybe he wasn't a genius, but he certainly knew when his friends weren't ok.

"Neji…" he spoke "I might not be a genius like you, but I have known you for several years now. If something is hurting you, you can tell me. That's what friends are for after all" he then made his 'good guy's pose' again. "Besides, you've been acting weird since yesterday, and you didn't come to the training today".

Neji hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to let Lee watch him crying. But he needed an answer and…wait a second…Lee was also there when they saw Naruto and Sakura…but he looked like nothing happened…

"Lee…Are you alright? You know…about yesterday…" he asked.

"Ah?" Lee said "Oh, you mean…ah well…what else can I do about it…well, Sakura san is my friend, so as Naruto, and I'm happy for them really…and…well…I…" he blushed "well, there's…someone…you know, I'm in the spring of youth! I…sometimes we…I…think…I might…eh…I think I'm falling in love with…" he hesitate "somebody else…"

"Really?" asked Neji.

"Oh yes!" Lee said in a very enthusiastic way "I mean…I just realize a few months ago…it's just that…well, I blush every time I think about her, and when she is near to me…and I can't stop thinking about her either…"

Neji couldn't believe what he was hearing, and it was not the fact that Lee was in love with someone that was not Sakura…

"I also feel a heavy feeling whenever I think about her being with somebody else, you know, in my heart" Lee continued; he placed a hand on his chest as if he was feeling it in that moment "and it makes me feel so hopelessly and sad…but I'll do my best! I'm in the spring of youth and shall try to win her heart or die in the intent!!"

Neji opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. Lee had just described some of his symptoms.

"And…" Neji began "you think…that you are in love because you have these feelings?"

"Well, yes of course!" Lee answered "this id what I used to feel for Sakura san, only that I stopped feeling it long ago, and I began feeling it a few weeks ago…But enough of me! You hadn't told me what you were crying for."

"Well…" he said. "I…maybe…ugh…Lee…can we talk about this later? I have…some other things to do…"

"Oh" Lee wondered if that would be right "ok, if that makes you happy." Then he did something Neji didn't expected. Lee hugged him. It happened too fast, but still… "Take care, Neji." And with that, he left.

Neji didn't want to go home. He was too confused for doing that. Instead, he went to walk on the river side. Soon, he found out that he was approaching to the place where he found Hinata last afternoon. He didn't expect to see what he saw.

Standing on a relative long distance from the place, he saw Hinata, sitting on the very same place, but the difference was that she wasn't alone. Her teammates were there with her.

It wouldn't have been too hard for him to watch the scene, if it hadn't be for their position. Kiba was on her left side and Shino was on her right side. Both were hugging her, comforting her, and she was crying. He felt such a big hopelessness that he had to hold himself with a tree in order to not falling to the floor.

Then Kiba raised one hand to dry Hinata's tears from her cheeks. The hopelessness gave space to another feeling, and this was even more unknown than the others he had felt before…it was jealousy.

But of course, he didn't know that. He just felt anger, he just felt his blood boiling and this sudden impulse to hit Kiba right on the face; 'Don't touch her' he said to himself. 'Who are these idiots to touch her?' His mind repeated. 'Hit them. Kick them. Make them never touch her again'

And then he froze again. 'What am I thinking?' he asked to himself 'What am I doing?' he was staring at his fists, unfolding them to see the marks of his nails on his palms. 'Why am I feeling this? It can't be that I'm… Am I jealous?' He felt panic; that feeling was so damn out of his usual self that he couldn't recognize himself anymore. He turned around and left the place. He was now going home. He had not a better idea. He walked in silence, trying to not face reality.

A few hours passed, and he was now staring at the sunset, sitting on the rooftop of the building that faced the entrance of the Hyuuga compound. He then saw her coming…with her teammates. He felt this awful pain on his chest again, but he could manage to control himself before jumping to kill them.

He saw how Shino gave her a hug; he saw how Kiba gave her a kiss on her cheek, and, finally, he saw that small smile on her face. It was not as radiant as it used to, but it was a smile anyway. He felt useless again. It was not fair. He gave the best of him trying to comfort her but she just cried and cried… but they…

He was about to leave the rooftop to ran away from his pain and anger and sadness and hopelessness when she turned up her face and saw him. She smiled at him, and Neji, without thinking, jumped from the roof to a place near to her.

"Hinata sama…" he whispered, his heart still painful.

"Neji n-nisan" she said. Neji felt his body trembling. Did she just call him 'nisan'? "I wanted t-to s-see you"

"…" Neji was now definitely out of words.

"Neji nisan…Arigatou!!" And then she threw herself into his arms. She hugged him. It was such a warm feeling. All his anger and pain and everything else just blew away. "T-thank you for being so n-nice" she pulled apart.

"Hinata nechan!" hanabi screamed.

"Coming! See you later, Neji niisan" she said, staring at the floor with a kind of ashamed look, before leaving.

Hinata turned without looking at Neji, probably because she didn't want him to see her red eyes and her violent blush. Whatever the reason was, he was grateful, for his face was as red as the best tomato and he was trembling a bit. His heart was beating so fast that he thought he was going to die right there. He stood there, watching her leaving, her long beautiful hair behind her… He couldn't affront reality. He would have fallen to the floor if not being for his huge ego and the fact that he was just too tired for even doing it. He would have to fight against these feelings from now on, and he didn't like the idea. He didn't like it at all.

Hinata was running to where Hanabi was. She would have to give her and her father an explanation. She didn't care. Her friends made her feel better. And the best part of all, she was able to call Neji 'niisan' again. She knew now that he really cared for her. She was still in love with Naruto, but, with some luck, she will be able to forget him. She will give the best of her in order to forget him. A small tear ran down her face; the pain might take a lot of time to disappear, maybe more than she expected…or will it not?

Did you like it? I hope you did. Thank you all for reading it! Next chapter will be coming soon, I promise! (Good guy's pose) See you next time! And please leave a review!