The days passed by in a mental blur— sure, I'd gone with Neji to every one of his training sessions, but I'd decided that keeping count was pointless after the ninth week. The fact that these days had also followed the same exact pattern was further reiteration that the calendar in my brain needed to be put out of its misery.
Not that this period had been miserable or anything; in fact, I was having a blast. Each morning, I'd wake up before Neji, and just as I'd finish getting dressed, his heartbeat would putter down the hallway toward my room. This was always the best part: I'd listen for the telltale rustling of his sleeve as he lifted his hand, and then I'd thrust the door open before he could even knock. He hadn't yet told me to stop. . . so I never did.
This morning was no different: this childish antic of mine never got old. In terms of the actual training session, however, I'd left Neji to his own devices and had made myself more productive; while he'd probably thought I'd been just sitting nonchalantly on the ground, I'd actually taken the time to pinpoint any weaknesses in my senses— that didn't include my eyesight— and strive to strengthen them at every possible angle.
I'd never thought about escaping, especially when I'd been aware of a distracted Neji. Oh, I could easily fight him off if he tried restraining me, but what would be the point of all that trouble? The truth was, I liked being around him. He was quiet— sometimes in that really awkward way, other times not— and he never badgered me or breathed down my neck, as if the very thought of me presented an immense threat. Well, if he was going to be nice to me— if one could call this behavior "nice"— I figured I'd return the favor. Besides, the sound of his heart rate after a tough session never ceased to amaze me; even I could feel it getting stronger. And while he wasn't one for conversation, his thoughts kept me entertained. The growls of frustration and the energy behind his techniques were just enough to tell me what exactly was going on in that big head—
A heavy vibration thudded against my palms, which were, once again, pressed into the grass beneath me. I strained my ears for anything unusual, and they soon stumbled upon beats of twin exuberance, followed by a rapidly trilling pulse. I then cursed myself for not taking more time to memorize the different heartbeats associated with each villager. Neji didn't seem to notice anything was off, though; he must have been distracted again.
"Who's that?" I said quietly, hopefully catching his attention. I kept focusing on the intruders, ready to defend myself if need be. However, they were still at least a mile away from our location— the strength of their vibrations that shadowed the sounds of their boisterous footfalls told me as much. Please, let his Byakugan be activated. . .
"It's all ri—" Neji broke off. I then realized I'd just given myself away.
"You don't think I've been just sitting here, do you?" I managed after a brief moment.
"What are you playing at?" he said harshly, his voice shaking at the last word.
Great, now he's mad. But why's he so upset? I was watching his back! "As proud as I am of my four senses, I'm not going to throw away the opportunity to further strengthen them. I've been training just as much as you have," I sighed. I guess I should tell him this, too. "I may as well be useful."
Now was not the time to be doing that silent-but-screaming-his-brains-out thing. There were three people coming straight for us, for crying out loud, and Neji was, most likely, wasting his energy thinking about the underlying meaning of my snappy remark!
"Deconstruct all you want," I continued. "If you want me to stop looking, just say so." I used my toes to climb the tree I'd been sitting next to, perching behind a cool cluster of leaves. Depend on your own eyes, buddy, for all I care. . .
Growing tense, I listened to the steadily approaching figures, wondering just why Neji wasn't doing anything about them. He must have known them or something; he had said it was all right, after all. However, I wouldn't feel any better until I was absolutely certain these people weren't dangerous.
"Ah, Neji! I can already see in your eyes the youthful passion this reunion brings!" boomed one of the twins, his movements producing an odd whistling sound. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd be here so early!"
The other twin wriggled around as well, creating his own high-pitched noises. Intrigued, I waved my arm as fast as I could through the air, and it made a sound similar to what the twins had just made.
Spandex?
"Yosh! Neji's eagerness to begin our highly youthful training session is such a youthful inspiration!"
I snorted at the already overused adjective, wondering what the girl was going to say that would add to the hilarity.
"What was that strange sound?" the second twin said loudly. "Did you hear that, Gai-sensei?"
Another sensei, huh? Was he Neji's?
"As a matter of fact, I did, Lee. I'VE GOT IT!" Holy cow— I'd nearly fallen out of my tree at that exclamation. "Our first training exercise for today will be to track down the maker of the mysterious snort! Are you ready, team?"
I had a feeling Neji wouldn't really be up for something like that, especially since he already knew where I was. A little disappointed, though thankful nonetheless that these people were okay, I made my way back down. "There's really no need," I said, finally revealing myself to this "team." "As fun as that sounds, I'm not allowed to hide from Neji."
"Hn," was all I got. Gee, thanks.
"Gah! Who is she?" the one called Lee cried. He desperately needed to pick up his feet; as he scooted away from me, the impact of his sandals on the ground was astounding— at least, to me it was.
"Calm down, Lee," said the female. Her voice was almost as high as her heartbeat. "Neji told us about this mission last night, remember?"
I must've already been asleep when Neji had had this little get-together last night. I figured it was too late to berate him now. . .
"Mission?" Lee said.
"He's stuck babysitting until further notice," the girl continued. There was definitely an emphasis on "baby." "Were you even listening?"
I kind of liked this girl's spunk, even if she was insulting me. Facing her general direction, I tried the whole eye-contact thing again. "You're talking about a rather old baby, you know," I told her, grinning at her attitude. "Anyway, nice to meet you." I wasn't about to back down from a verbal brawl—
The girl laughed. "I like this kid, Neji." Kid? "You should've introduced us sooner!"
"Introduced? How rude of me— I'm Keiden." I held out a hand, deciding to play nice after thinking about making more friends. And why not? Neji couldn't keep me to himself forever.
Lee pounced at me, his spandex whishing violently against the air, and grabbed my hand, flinging it every which way. "It is an honor to meet you! My name is Rock Lee, but you may call me Lee!" Though seemingly slow, this young man's enthusiasm was invigorating.
"I'm Tenten," the girl offered.
"And my name is Maito Gai!" The series of noises coming from this man glued some weird pictures into my skull. What was he doing, anyway? "Gai-sensei, if you will!"
My lips twitched. "Sensei?" He wasn't my sensei. . .
"Of course! Any friend of Neji's, especially one who'll most likely be with him for a long time, is welcome to be a part of this particularly youthful team!"
You've certainly fulfilled your "youthful" quota for the day. "That's very kind of you, but I don't want to impose." I took that as my cue to go back into my tree, already taking a step away from the group. "It really wouldn't be a good idea to let someone like me train with you, anyway."
"Nonsense!" Tenten chirped. "I think it'd be nice to have another girl on this team."
"Yosh! I agree with Tenten!" Lee whooped. "What do you say, Neji?"
Well, Neji? What do you say?
Nothing, apparently.
Gai-sensei's heartbeat was suddenly next to Neji's. "There'd be four pairs of eyes on her. She wouldn't even think of escaping." His voice was oddly serious for someone so. . . flamboyant.
"That's not what I'm worried about," Neji answered softly. Really, had he already forgotten how strong my sense of hearing was? "We just don't need her getting any stronger."
That made perfect sense; he was supposed to be keeping me from demolishing his village, after all.
"Then we'll just have to tire her out!" Gai concluded.
Oh, boy. This should be interesting.
"All right, then!" my new sensei cheered. "Let's start with the usual! I want one hundred youthful laps around Konoha!"
I was much too excited to worry about the distance; finally, I was going to do something more physically exerting! I had no idea how good I was in terms of endurance— however, there was always a first time for everything.
I placed myself beside Neji, aware that he'd much rather be the one keeping a close eye on me.
"On your mark. . . get set. . . GOOOOO! RUN! RUN WITH THE FULL POWER OF YOUTH!" Gai roared, his boom-poom already very far away. Lee's poom-boom followed closely behind him.
I released a delighted giggle while keeping myself as parallel to Neji as I could. "I like their energy."
"Hn," he said. Now that "Hn" had been much more irritated; we were only two-hundred meters into it, and he already wanted me to stop bugging him?
"If it bothers you so much," I replied lightly, "I can always run with Tenten." Her ta-tmm was about thirty seconds behind us.
He didn't say anything, so I attempted to figure out just what the heck his problem was: he still wanted me close by, even though I was bothering the living daylights out of him. . . he'd sounded rather frustrated when Gai had told him about having the entire team watch over me. . . he had enough pride to fill an ocean-sized bowl. . .
A-ha.
He was worried about failing his mission.
"That's what I thought," I said happily, rubbing it in his face, just a little. "You're welcome."
His silence said it all. I was getting quite good at this.
"Do you despise sandals?" he asked curtly. So, he'd taken to staring at me again?
I chuckled, opting to give him the truth after tormenting him for a while. "I'm memorizing the terrain."
". . . why?"
"I thought it would be fun." Even though this habit had become second nature to me, it'd give me something to do. "Another ninety-nine laps of silence would be kind of boring, don't you think?" It wasn't as if he needed to know that his thoughts provided enough conversation for the both of us.
"Hn," he said again.
I spent much more time than necessary thinking of ways to incorporate vocabulary lessons into his day. Honestly, it was only polite to answer with at least a "yes" or a "no." And what exactly was a "Hn," anyway? As fun as it was to discern the various meanings behind his signature word— was it a word?— this arrogant attitude of his wasn't going to get him anywhere.
Then Neji stopped, his heart racing. Confused, I retraced our steps in my mind— and realized we'd finished running the assigned laps. I was truly grateful he'd decided to let me continue running with him, and I showed it by patting his upper arm. Shoot. . . I was aiming for his shoulder. . .
Lee's spandex whistled around me once more, and he latched onto my hand again, congratulating me on a "youthful job well done." This must have been normal for Gai and him, so I finally accepted the fact that I'd probably be hearing the word "youthful" for many, many days to come. Tenten came along not long after, telling me how impressed she was with my accomplishment. Gai, however, didn't say anything— he was probably shocked by how easily I'd managed to run around the village. I felt great, too— not tired at all!
"Gai-sensei! Gai-sensei! May we proceed with the sparring session now?" I didn't need my eyes to see the excitement radiating from Lee's countenance.
"A splendidly youthful proposition, Lee! I have just the technique for you. And Tenten, my lovely flower, I require your blossoming assistance!"
Did he just call Tenten a flower?
Before I could question Gai's peculiar choice of words, I was left alone with the buh-dummm. Rocking back and forth for a moment, I contemplated my next move.
Time for Neji to train some more, I guess. "I think this tree is mocking you," I pointed out, placing my hands on the nearest trunk. "Maybe you should teach it a lesson." With that, I sat down, staying out of his way.
"Stand up," he said sharply.
Crap.
"You contradicting yourself," I warned, remembering his hushed conversation with Gai. Nevertheless, I scrambled to my feet again.
I heard him charging before I felt it— really, the sounds of his clothing stuck out like a sore thumb— and I quickly maneuvered myself behind him.
"Byakugan!" came a growl.
"Don't do this," I whispered. I really didn't want to have to land a hit him.
Like a fool, he barreled toward me again; this time, the rustling noises went from my head to my waist. Assuming he was about to kick me, I reached forward, resting my hands on what felt like his right shoulder and thrusting myself off the ground. I was behind him again, and I wrapped my left arm tightly around his neck.
"Just stop." Before you hurt yourself.
He wouldn't listen to me— he just threw himself into a poorly choreographed somersault, as if hoping this motion would chuck me to the ground. I let him go before pinning his arms under my knees and gripping his throat with my bare hands.
He was good, I'd give him that, but he depended on his eyes way too much. I feared for his safety, simply because I didn't think he'd deactivated his Byakugan yet; I understood the risks that came with overusing his bloodline limit. I'd tried over and over again to make him stop fighting me, but to no avail— he'd continued charging at me, intending to beat me to a pulp, but I'd always had the upper hand. It was like I'd known his moves even before he had.
My next move consisted of trapping both his wrists with my left hand and clutching the taut skin of his neck with my right. At this, he swore, falling to his knees.
I let him go. "We're done," was all I said, well aware of his exhaustion. Sitting down, I immediately stuck my hands in the grass and focused on all noises within a six-hundred meter radius; Neji was in no fit state to sense any danger, so I did it for him. At that moment, I decided it was a much better idea to leave the matter of his wounded pride alone— had it been the other way around, I didn't think he'd gloat about a victory in these circumstances.
What greeted my ears were the sounds of Gai, Lee, and Tenten making their way back toward a more densely populated region of the village. Good. . . they're safe.
"What are you doing?" Neji murmured.
"Looking at the grass, the bugs," I lied. "Listening to your team." Wait— our team.
". . ." He seemed too tired to suspect me.
"They're leav—"
"What are you?" he blurted, his heartbeat still not quite under control.
I couldn't help but beam at this remark. "I'm Keiden." That seemed fitting enough— I had no idea what I was otherwise. That's right. . . I don't know what I am. . . "Neji?" I said nervously after this little epiphany.
"Yes?"
"Can you promise me something?" I'd actually been thinking about this for a while, and now was the perfect opportunity to voice my concerns about this entire mess.
". . . it depends. . ." he began, unsure.
"Don't worry— you wouldn't be overstepping the boundaries of your mission." In fact, you'd probably be doing the ANBU a favor. "It's just that. . . if I remember everything. . . and if I am indeed the enemy. . ." What was I so afraid of? No matter what, I was going to end up dead, anyway. I took in a big gust of air. "I want you to be the one to kill me," I finished, trying to sound bold about it.
His clothes rustled again in what I guessed to be a wince; he mustn't have expected such an answer. Instantly regretting this spiel, I hastily fished for something else to say.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"
"I promise," he said firmly, leaving no room for doubt.