Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.
Author's Notes: The next chapter will be the last chapter. Here's hoping it comes out soon. Many thanks to Kilerkki, my wonderful beta and even better friend who prevents me from making too big a fool of myself. I also must extend thanks to link no miko, Asuka Kureru, and Koorino Megumi for their support and feedback.
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Oracle
Chapter Eight: Promises
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Neji doesn't wipe the sweat from his forehead—the salt water may still sting his sightless eyes, but it is only distracting and not impairing. He fights equally well with his lids open as he does shut, now, and he has better things to do with his hands.
Such as deflecting Kiba's claws before they can slice open his ribs. Neji strikes with his palm to meet the attack, pushing Kiba's arm just enough off course that when he drops his left leg back and twists his torso, Kiba goes hurtling past.
Neji doesn't have time to continue the move and force Kiba into defense because Lee rushes forward, perpendicular to Kiba's line of attack and directly at Neji's newly exposed back.
Kiba and Lee are the most difficult for him to fight—they're so fast that Neji has to spread his chakra out several meters in order to have some idea of where the next attacks will be coming from. Expanding his range forces his chakra to thin out, and it consequently becomes harder to "see." Details become fuzzier, but it is an acceptable trade to get all the warning he can.
The two chuunin force him back, and Neji spends several moments taking and retreating from blows, not able to avoid their attacks as he used to when Kiba and Lee were still adjusting to each other's fighting styles. An opportunity to strike back comes when Kiba's claws rake his right forearm, deep enough to shoot pain up through his shoulder. Neji latches onto Kiba's wrist before the chuunin can draw away or strike again, and, in a move Lee has long become accustomed to, uses Kiba's momentum against him, hurling the Inuzuka away and straight into Lee.
Kiba yells—from the sidelines, Akamaru barks—and sails through the air to clip an incoming Lee. They both tumble to the ground, but before Neji can press his advantage, Gai calls an end to the fight.
Immediately, Neji drops his cloud of chakra and raises his right arm, injured side up, and pulls back his shredded sleeve. He can feel the blood dripping down to his elbow despite his exhaustion and blossoming pain, only now making themselves known. Between the torn fabric and the fact his shirt is likely rapidly soaking up blood in addition to all this morning's sweat, he should just throw it out after the day's training is done, especially since he has only eight days left. He tries to put pressure on the wound, but he has only one hand to use, and the cuts burn from wrist to elbow.
Gai and a Branch med-nin, a regular audience member and injury tender since his thirteenth day, come up beside him while Kiba and Lee untangle themselves with Akamaru barking encouragement. The seal twinges; Neji realizes that his sudden exhaustion has less to do with a strenuous workout and more to do with the blood dropping freely to the dirt and the accompanying pain. How deep did the claws go?
Neji holds still while Gai takes over holding back his sleeve, and the med-nin quickly examines Neji's arm. After a moment, the other Branch speaks. "This needs chakra healing," the man says in a voice trained to be calm and soothing in all circumstances, unless yelling is required.
His right hand is starting to feel cold, despite the late morning sun warming his face. "Go ahead." Neji stops putting pressure on his forearm and holds still while the man sinks his chakra into the wound. The familiar itching sting creeps throughout his right arm, the sign that thousands of cells are duplicating at inhuman rates to repair the damage.
When the healing is finished, the medic supplies him with a blood pill; Neji swallows it dry. A few seconds later new blood rushes through him, making his fingers and toes prickle. Neji breathes deeply and feels his strength slowly start to return. Gai hands him a wad of cloth to wipe away the blood from his arm and hands.
The morning practice ends soon. While the Hokage is going out of her way to give Neji's team and Hinata's team time for training, there are still assignments that need to be completed. The Hokage is assigning the teams short, easy missions in the afternoon and evening hours or making them substitute for some of her staff. Just this morning, Tenten laughed her way through a retelling of Kiba and Shino's adventures freeing up two of the Hokage's assistants for other duties.
"Who came today?" Neji asks Hinata as their group moves through their cool-down stretches. It is another part of the routine, discovering who stays to watch, who leaves, and who keeps coming back.
"Neither Father nor Hanabi came," Hinata answers. "They are probably still training." She rattles off a list of some twenty other people, most of them qualifying as regulars—including a Main Neji does not know but whom Hinata identified as an Elder's nephew some days past. The rest of the group talks quietly, throwing out observations and speculations on their watchers' demeanors. Hinata finishes with, "I still haven't seen Elder Hiroki" and doesn't ask questions about why the Elder hasn't come to watch Neji train since the visit to Hotaru. Neji is not interested in divulging the details, and no one else tries to ask.
The slap of small sandals against the ground catches Neji's attention. The feet stutter to a stop, a few meters from them. "The Hokage is coming!" a girl gasps between breaths, likely having sprinted from the clan gates to their training ground in order to deliver the message. "She's here to see you!"
His shredded right sleeve is still gummy with not-dried blood, and his skin is sticky from hours' worth of sweat. "Did she say why?" Neji asks as he gets to his feet. He has no time to prepare for her arrival, and his gut knots at the awful possibilities as to why Tsunade would show up without warning, in person.
"No, sorry," the messenger child says. "But she's being escorted straight here."
"Thank you."
The girl takes a deep breath before her feet sprint away, undoubtedly to warn Hiashi, and most of their watchers disappear as well. Kiba mutters something to Shino; Akamaru whines. Tenten, Lee, and Gai talk quietly, Tenten hissing something about looking presentable. Hinata stands beside Neji and speaks only to tell him which way to face for the Hokage's arrival. Neji forces himself to ignore the tension in his gut.
The Godaime Hokage arrives almost alone, save for a single person that is undoubtedly a Hyuuga escort. She greets them all by name; Neji bows deeply to her and refuses to show his uneasiness.
"Hokage-sama," Hinata says after greetings are exchanged, "would you like to come in out of the sun?" As if it is her duty—her right—to offer hospitality to an honored guest, instead of her father, the Head.
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They all—Gai's team, Hinata's team, and even Hiashi—gather in the same room where Neji met with the Elders. Tsuande's escort remains outside the sliding door.
Neji keeps his hands loose and still upon his knees. Gai is sitting to his left; Hinata closer on the right. They are all gathered in a scrunched semi-circle before the Hokage, except Hiashi, who is at her side. With most of them fresh from practice, this meeting will need to be short before the room becomes unpleasant to breathe in.
Tsunade declines Hiashi's offer of refreshment. "I had a meeting with an ambassador from Cloud."
Neji's throat feels dry.
"He came to offer reassurance that the attack was not sanctioned by the Raikage," Tsunade continues, "and that it was the action of missing-nin."
"How many Cloud shinobi are in the village?" Hiashi's voice is stiff.
"Only the ambassador." Tsunade pauses. Akamaru growls and Kiba quickly quiets him. "You may take whatever precautions you wish, Hiashi."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." No one needs to be reminded of what happened the last time Cloud delegates were let into Konoha. The seal twitches, and Neji relaxes his jaw.
"In any case, Neji, I wanted to tell you that we've finished with the Cloud medic." Tsunade says. "She will be well enough for you to fight her."
He nods. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He should not be surprised that the woman broke, though the dark part that threatens to strangle him whenever he remembers her face and the liquid lightning flooding his spine thinks she might have held out too long.
Neji is surprised when Gai's large hand settles on his back, but he does not tense or pull away. The touch is fleeting, and Neji keeps his face toward the Hokage's voice. "And Hotaru?"
"She'll be just fine."
And the final pieces of his last ambition fall securely into place. It is as if he can breathe deeply again for the first time since his sight was taken, since he woke with death smothering him in the hospital bed. Death is still there, his constant companion, but its nearness is no longer stifling.
He will die in eight days, on his own terms, by his own merits.
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They all leave the room save the Hokage and Hiashi; Hinata's team has a mission. Neji exchanges farewells and walks away from the low murmur of his uncle and his Hokage's voices.
But not far from the room, his teammate's footsteps slow to a halt. "Neji?" It's Tenten's voice.
Neji stops. "What is it?"
There is a lengthy pause, as if she is searching for words. Finally, she speaks. "We want you to stay with us. On your last night."
"At my home," Gai adds in quietly.
"No." It slips out wrong, and Neji swallows hastily to clear his throat. "I already have something I need to do. But the night before that, I'll be there."
He can almost hear the smile in Lee's voice. "So will we."
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The first heat of Fire Country's summer slowly seeps into his final days. He throws out his bloodied and ripped training clothes and throws himself into his training. It is not out of desperation so much as it is about completion: his internal countdown is no longer smothering, but it is omnipresent and unrelenting.
His days slip away beneath sweat and sun, blood and spikes of pain, days of dust-coated throats and an aching seal and the careful skirting of mentions of his end. They are solemn days, witnessed days, and he would not want them otherwise.
Hotaru is released from the hospital, and she joins the crowd that watches him. After each day's training, she earnestly questions him about who he was and what he did and how she can become the shinobi he is now.
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On his second-to-last night, Tenten and Lee take him to their sensei's home. There, they celebrate.
They tell stories; Neji listens. He finds himself smiling on occasion, and Gai's laughter rattles the walls. Lee slaps him hard on the back, and Tenten flicks food wrappers at whoever happens to be teasing her.
They talk; sometimes, Neji speaks. Lee gives him more than one bone-crushing hug, and Tenten brushes a kiss he can barely feel against the ruin of his eyes. He thanks them for their help, and Gai rests a hand on his shoulder.
They weep; Neji's throat burns. And when they retire for the night, they lay their futons around him.
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Neji refuses to draw out the farewells. After their last training session is complete, he simply tells them goodbye.
His teammates and sensei hug him. Kiba slaps a hand onto his shoulder; his nails dig in briefly. Akamaru suddenly licks his palm, and Shino only says that he will be there the next morning. The rest of them agree, and they do not linger, for which Neji is grateful.
Hinata guides him to the Branch House entry way and then departs without a word. She will meet him when he needs her assistance again. Neji strides to his room to fetch some of his remaining clean clothing and then finds his way to the baths.
He is meticulous. The courtyard gong marks an hour before Neji is certain he has rid himself of all the grime he cannot see. When he returns to his room, he dries his hair, carefully combs it through, and ties it back.
Once he finishes, he lays out two sets of clothing on his table. The first set is his newest training clothes, bought before his final mission. His fingers cannot find any patches required because of Tenten's unerring aim, and Hinata claimed it was free from stains caused by Lee's impossible throws.
The second set is his only formal wear, though it can barely be considered that. Beyond a slight difference in cut, the only difference between these clothes and his normal ones is the material they are made from. He considered wearing the rich clothing for his end—he can acknowledge his pride—but his practicality reminds him tomorrow will be his last fight, and he cannot fight cleanly. The clan will also need to cremate him in something besides his training or mission clothes, and these will do.
Neji runs his fingers over the smooth fabric once, twice, before settling on a sitting cushion. He keeps his back straight, shoulders squared, and breathes in deeply, catching the faint scent of a summer out of reach.
He waits.
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To Be Concluded
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Chapter Nine: Fate
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