Chapter 5

Sasuke woke up from what felt like a very, very deep sleep and when he did, he immediately felt a headache coming up. For a few seconds, his vision was blurred and then he realised he wasn't laying down, but he was standing. And with someone in his hands. When he looked at the person in his arms, he saw it was Neji. When did he get to Neji? And how? And why couldn't he remember following him? He looked up to see if there were any clues to make him remember and then saw something else that surprised him. He saw that same man, with the glasses, smirking at him. And then he was gone. Sasuke frowned and looked at Neji once again. He was hurt pretty badly. That man was probably responsible and Sasuke felt worry overtake him. He laid Neji down and tried wakening him up. When Neji didn't respond, Sasuke checked his breathing. But there was none. He panicked completely now and did the only thing he could think off. He started giving Neji mouth to mouth. Neji couldn't die.

It didn't take long before Neji's eyes flew open and he quickly sucked in as much air as possible. As he pushed Sasuke away he sat up, gasping for air and coughing. Seeing the bruised spots on Neji's neck, it was obvious that the man had tried to strangle him.

Sasuke rubbed a hand over Neji's back and looked at him, a hint of worry in his eyes. He wasn't sure what to do now, but he was relieved Neji at least breathed again.

Neji swallowed and coughed a few times before he looked at Sasuke, panting.

"..W-where did he go?" He then asked. He felt a relief going over him the moment he said it. Sasuke was innocent. If Sasuke had wanted him to die, he wouldn't give him mouth to mouth to bring him back to breath. He had judged him wrong, so it seemed.

"I don't know, he disappeared." Sasuke said. "Don't talk until you can breathe normally." He held Neji up, seeing Neji was not really able to focus on it.

Neji took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down his breathing. He then was silent for some time, as he held a hand on his chest.

"..Sorry Sasuke." He then said.

Sasuke frowned now, confused by that comment.

"For what?" He asked. "Are you ok?"

"For attacking you and leaving you behind." Neji said, shrugging. "And for not trusting you while you saved my life."

Sasuke was silent for a while.

"It's ok, I guess you would think that of me after having been poisoned by the berries I picked." He then said.

"It still wasn't really nice." Neji said, shrugging. "I should have trusted you."

"Yes you should have. But it's fine. We're fine. You're alive." Sasuke said, letting out a breath he had been holding. Neji was alive.

"Alright, that's good.." Neji said, nodding. "I wonder why that guy attacked me though."

"It was that man with the glasses." Sasuke said.

"Is that an answer?" Neji asked, giving Sasuke a slight frown.

"No. But that's important information. He knows me, maybe he thought you still had something to do with me." Sasuke answered.

"It's weird though." Neji said. "Why would he want to kill me?"

"I don't know." Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I really don't. But I know I need to find him."

"..It's obvious he knows something yes." Neji said with a slight frown.

"He knows me. It's important for me to find him." Sasuke said.

"We should watch out though." Neji said. "He was strangling me until I passed out."

"I know. I have a feeling he won't kill me though." Sasuke said.

"Perhaps not." Neji said. "Let's hope he won't."

"He won't, because if he wanted to, he could kill me now. I don't have powers, or at least don't know how to use them." Sasuke said. "Are you ok to walk?"

"Yeah I can walk." Neji said, nodding. "Thanks for coming into saving though."

"You're welcome." Sasuke said and nodded, getting up. "We should get out of here, who knows who can come and attack us now."

Neji got up as well and wiped the dirt off of his clothes.

"Alright, let's go."

They started walking now and after a while of silence, Sasuke spoke up.

"..So... what day is it?" He asked carefully.

"What, now?" Neji asked, looking at Sasuke as he pulled an eyebrow up.

"Yeah. What day is it?" Sasuke asked again, looking away from Neji, pretending to see something interesting.

"...Tuesday." Neji said. After some time he turned his look away as well, focussing on the road. "According to Tsunade, in three hours we will see the next city."

Sasuke was silent now, deep in thought. It was Tuesday. So he had no memory of a full day this time. What was going on with him?

They walked further a little longer, and after an hour, they walked past a lake. Neji looked at it and then stopped.

"Do you mind if I wash myself for some time?" He then asked. "I haven't done it in some days and I start to feel dirty. And I like my privacy, so as long as we don't have a living place I don't want to do this in a public bath."

".. Sure, but I need to wash myself too. I think. And I once again need new clothes. Damn." Sasuke hadn't even noticed that his clothes were torn again. What did he do, battle every creature that had crossed his path?

"Right." Neji said, frowning a little, as he walked to the lake. "What did you do this time?" He pulled off his shirt now and put off his shoes.

"... I can't remember what I did last time, don't say it like I did something wrong." Sasuke said, avoiding the question just slightly as he pulled off his torn clothes.

"I didn't say it like that." Neji said as he slid down his pants and underwear. Now naked, he walked into the lake and took his clothes with him. He then started washing his clothes first.

Sasuke was silent for a while as he looked at Neji's body. He seemed so pure, even though his city has been destroyed and he probably had to fight once in a while. Sasuke looked at his own body, which had plenty of scars on it and then looked at Neji again. And he stared, his shirt still over his arms, hanging loosely in his hands.

Neji scrubbed some dirt off of his pants and shirt, and then noticed Sasuke was taking long with getting undressed. He looked up to Sasuke and was a little caught off guard to see him naked and staring intensely at him.

"...Aren't you coming into the water?" Neji asked, after he had swallowed once. He never expected Sasuke to be this muscular and have a body that told a history of who he was. It looked like Sasuke had been through some hard times. But even behind all of that, there was a gorgeous boy standing in front of him... he wouldn't deny that for sure.

Sasuke looked at Neji for a while, and then his head shook slightly and he threw his shirt to the ground and walked into the water.

".. Yeah. Sorry, lost in thought." He mumbled as he washed himself.

Neji gave Sasuke one more look, before he continued washing his clothes.

"No one attacked you when your body was paralyzed, right?" Neji asked, a hint of guilt in his voice. He was obviously referring to Sasuke's torn clothes now.

Sasuke looked at Neji once again and was silent once more. He had to stop staring at that gorgeous body.

"... No." He said. "Not that I can remember." His look then changed from mesmerized to slight shock. Shit, now Neji would know he had lost his memory for a part again.

Neji send Sasuke a frown now.

"Did you lose your memory again?" He asked. Sadly, he was very sharp, so he had heard Sasuke's little mistake and immediately had come to the right conclusion.

"... Well I wouldn't say I lost my memory... completely." Sasuke mumbled, looking away. Damn it.

"But you lost a part." Neji said. "..That's strange."

".. Yeah, a day." Sasuke said. ".. It just went black and when I 'woke up', so to speak, I had you in my arms and that guy with the glasses was smirking at me." He washed his chest now, letting the water drip down his body. It felt good to clean up.

"That's really weird." Neji said, frowning once more. "You should have asked Tsunade about it."

"Well it didn't happen when I was there and when I woke up I was already here with you." Sasuke said. "How come you don't have any scars?" He now asked, not caring that Neji now knew he had been looking at his body.

"I heal very fast." Neji explained. "And I take care of myself a lot, so I know how to remove them."

"It would be nice not to have so many scars." Sasuke said and then washed his hair.

"Perhaps I could take care of some of them." Neji said. "I will make some ointments."

"You can actually do that?" Sasuke asked frowning.

"Yes I can." Neji said, nodding. "Like I said, I do have some knowledge of healing, and especially of the human body."

"When can you do that then?" Sasuke asked.

Neji grinned a little.

"My, do you want a beauty treatment as soon as possible?" He then asked.

"Shut up. I would just like to get rid of this scarred body." Sasuke said, a little snappy.

"Well I probably won't be able to make your skin look like mine, but.. I will do my best for you soon." Neji said, shrugging.

"I don't need it to be that way, I like some scars. Just not to be covered in them. Maybe my past self loved them, but I can't remember anyhow." Sasuke said. "So when will you do it?"

"Sasuke, don't be so impatient." Neji said, as he walked towards the shore again and put his clothes down, to let them dry.

Sasuke was silent as he stared once again, this time at Neji's very well curved butt. That really was a nice butt. He apparently was very gay. Another thing he had found out about himself right now.

Neji made sure his clothes could dry and then walked back into the lake, while washing himself.

"So I guess we should head on soon again." He then said. "It might be dangerous to stay here for too long."

Sasuke didn't reply as he had just seen Neji's... parts. And they looked good as well. And it made him stare once again, this time it was pretty obvious what he was staring at though.

Neji brought some water to his face and washed it, and when he looked at Sasuke he caught him staring.. at his crouch.

"...Is there something wrong?" Neji asked, his face flushing red immediately. Would Sasuke be staring because he had like.. zero body hair? Something he had been ashamed of his whole life?

"Not at all.." Sasuke replied without thinking but then realised what he had said and looked away. "I mean.. I just.. I... oh crap." He mumbled the last thing.

Neji then for once had no idea what to say. He just stared at Sasuke. What on earth was going on?

"I think I'm done washing myself." Sasuke said and quickly moved to the side of the lake and pulled himself out of the water.

"...I'll hurry." Neji said, focussing his eyes on his own body now. He was a little confused though. Why had Sasuke been staring.. at his crotch?

"You do that." Sasuke said as he tried drying himself a little and then just pulled on his clothes again. "It's just a two hour walk now right?"

"Yes it is." Neji confirmed while nodding. He then washed himself in silence. Once more, he had no idea what to say.

When Sasuke was completely dressed he looked at Neji and waited for him to finish. He had to stop staring at Neji's body. There was no time to think about bodies and... stuff. He had to find out who he was first.

Three hours later, Sasuke and Neji walked into the city Tsunade had told them about before. Sasuke looked around. It looked like an ok city. Not something he would want to live in though. Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but before he had the chance to, he was smacked down onto the ground, face first and all he felt was a whole lot of weight on his back. When he wanted to turn around and hit whoever managed to catch him off guard, he felt a lick on his face and he felt disgusted by it. When he looked up with a look that could kill, he saw a wolf, grinning broadly at him.

"... Kiba." He mumbled.
"Heya." Kiba said, as he jumped off of Sasuke and smirked at Neji, who was giving him an amused look. "How are you folks doing?"

Sasuke got up and wiped his face.

"Great." He said sarcastic. "Did you have to jump on me?"

"To catch you off guard I obviously had to." Kiba said, once more grinning. "It's always nice to smash an asshole like you onto the ground." Neji let out a chuckle now, as he shook his head. What an idiot. Kiba really knew how to lighten the mood. Since what happened in the lake, Sasuke and him had been awkward around each other and they had barely spoken. It would be good to have the cheerful half wolf around for a while.

"Since when am I an asshole, you're the one smashing my head into the ground and then licking me. Now I need another bath." Sasuke said smirking. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"A dog's tongue is cleaner then water." Kiba said, shrugging. "I decided to travel around a little bit and after some time I guessed it would be good to travel with you guys for some time. I could try to help you to find a new home."

"Well thanks. And even if your tongue is cleaner, keep it to yourself from now on." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke has been a little grumpy for some time." Neji told Kiba, when he saw the confused look on Kiba's face.

"I think he's just being his own asshole self." Kiba said, once more giving Sasuke a smirk. Neji pulled up an eyebrow. He wondered if provoking Sasuke was a good idea. But on the other hand, Kiba was still in his wolf form. No person with normal brains would attack a wolf.

Sasuke gave Kiba a slight glare before sighing.

"I am not grumpy." He told Neji. "I think we need to decide what we're going to do in this city. I don't think I want to live here."

"What are your requirements then?" Neji asked Sasuke, slightly frowning. "We didn't even look around yet and you already came to this conclusion."

"It just doesn't feel like a place I would want to live." Sasuke said shrugging. "We need a place to sleep here though, so we'd better start with looking for that."

"Why do the effort?" Kiba asked Sasuke. "Do you even have money? Else it's effortless. You could try to make money, or we sleep somewhere and take guard once in a while."

"I need to sleep." Sasuke said. "We managed to find a place to sleep in a village that looked a lot less pleasant then this one, I'm sure we can do that here too."

"We could try it yes." Kiba said. "Nothing is wrong with trying."

"Right. And if it won't work we can always sleep somewhere and take hold in turns. Could you say something too Neji?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm thinking." Neji answered. "I don't know if it would be smart." Kiba pulled up an eyebrow now. Why was Neji against the idea?

"You don't want to sleep in someone else's house then?" Kiba asked.

"It's not polite to use the houses of other's and give nothing in return." Neji replied.

"That just sounds wrong. Why do you always sound so wrong?" Sasuke asked, frowning slightly. "It worked out fine last time didn't it?"

Neji gave Sasuke a look and then continued to look at the city.

"He didn't appreciate us staying there for free." He then said. "In fact, he was angry. What if something like that happens and we're staying in the house of someone who happens to be very powerful? It's not polite and it's dangerous."

"He wasn't angry. Well he was, but only because of me." Sasuke said frowning.

"You were right Sasuke, he did want sex." Neji then said. Now Kiba frowned as well. For some kind of reason, he felt like he should take a step back and allow Sasuke and Neji some minutes together. There was something going on that needed to be spoken of, obviously.

"... You said nothing happened." Sasuke said, frowning even more. "What did he do to you? You should have told me so I could kick his ass for it."

"He came to our room and tried to undress me and touch me." Neji said, coming across like he wasn't bothered by the previous happenings at all. "He did, while I told him to stop. In the end I was forced to take over his body and slightly hurt him. He became furious and tried again, but I hurt him another time. He then left, after he had told me we had to leave immediately after breakfast the next morning."

"... Well you should have told me about that." Sasuke snapped. "How come I didn't hear any of that? I was sleeping right next to you."

"I have no idea, it was like you were unconscious." Neji said, as he now looked at Sasuke. "I checked up on you, but you were just in a very deep sleep."

"Oh.. Well you should have told me, you can't keep those things to yourself." Sasuke said, annoyed Neji had pretended nothing had happened. And annoyed he hadn't woken up to help him.

"Nothing serious happened, except for the fact he broke my trust." Neji answered. "I don't see any reason why I should have told you."

"Well maybe because I asked you and you lied to me." Sasuke said. "We're still going to ask for a place to stay though."

"Funny that I don't want it anymore and now you do, we switched roles." Neji commented, crossing his arms.

"Yeah well, I need to sleep." Sasuke said. "And I need to sleep well, and I slept well when we had a bed. So I need a bed."

"So you are the one who's going to get us some sleeping space, Sasuke?" Kiba asked, who butted in to the conversation Sasuke and Neji were having. Neji gave Sasuke a long look while Kiba was talking, and then, once more, he broke the eye contact and looked away.

Sasuke was silent for a while and then spoke up.

"Fine I will." He said and walked into the city. Those two pissed him off for some reason. Especially Neji.

Kiba chose to follow Sasuke now and after a while, Neji did as well. He kept his distance though. Just like every time he spoke to Sasuke, he wondered why the raven was this hot headed and hateful to others.

Sasuke took a left at the first inn he saw and stormed inside. He walked to the owner.

"We need a place to stay, we don't have any money and we're not going to have sex with anyone. Can we get a room?" He asked, his tone betrayed that he was irritated.

The bartender, a man of age with messy dark hair and a grey moustache narrowed his eyes behind the glasses he was wearing, and leaned forwards over the bar, so he could look at Sasuke.

"That you even have the nerve to ask is a wonder, young man." He answered. Neji and Kiba walked into the inn as well now. As Kiba walked inside, Neji chose to wait in the doorpost. He did not feel like standing up for Sasuke again and trying to solve the situation. It was time for Sasuke to find out that with this behaviour, he made no one happy.

"Why, what were you gonna do about it? Either you lend us a room or you're not and we'll ask someone else." Sasuke said shrugging. He wasn't scared of this man.

The man now pulled up an eyebrow.

"Why would I want to do something about something?" He then asked. "From my first answer you should already have guessed the answer is no. The way you march inside and what you ask is something no one would say yes to." Neji looked up now. He looked at the man, who didn't seem angry, nor dangerous. He was simply offended by Sasuke. This could be a chance.

"And what if we offer your clients healing and reki sessions tonight and tomorrow morning?" He then asked. This lead the bartender to look up as well.

"If you are looking for a room for a longer time, we could use someone who could do that." He then said. "I'm sure my boss would give the three of you a room in exchange for taking better care of our customers."

Sasuke gave Neji a glare now, but kept his mouth shut. Neji just had to butt in with his reki and healing thingies. What an asshole.

"We're not staying here for a longer time." He said to Neji.

"Well I am, because for now, I'm tired of travelling and I'm going to make some money, before I continue travelling." Neji said, narrowing his eyes. "Shut your mouth for once, stop ruining things and get that glare off of your face. I'm sick of you and your impossibly childish behaviour."

Sasuke looked at Neji now, his glare not fading at all. He then shoved Neji aside and stormed past him, out of the inn. How dare Neji say something like that. What kind of thank you was that for saving his ass for the last few days.

"Are you going to stay here and offer us these healings for our customers or not?" The bartender of the inn asked.

"If your boss allows it, I'd love to." Neji said. "If we could get a room for three for tonight, it would be very nice."

"I will talk to the boss, once he gets here. If you can come back in thirty minutes I will know more." The bartender said.

Neji nodded thankfully to the man.

"We will, thank you." He then said. "We will be back soon." After the bartender had said goodbye as well, Neji and Kiba left the inn and walked outside. Only to stumble upon Sasuke fighting with a guy they didn't know.

Sasuke was apparently winning, giving the guy a hit in the face and glaring at him.

"Just fuck off will ya." He snapped to the guy and then spotted Neji and Kiba from the corner of his eye. He looked at them and then saw the look on Neji's face. It was almost a look of disgust and aversion. Sasuke felt bad now for starting a fight with someone. He didn't need Neji looking at him like that.

Neji looked at Sasuke for some longer, before turning away and leaving the scene. He was done with Sasuke. He didn't want to see him anymore, he decided. Even now he had found a place to live for a while, he'd rather leave Sasuke behind now. He couldn't stand the guy any longer.

Sasuke pushed away the guy, that now tried to hit him, and then quickly followed Neji, grabbing him by the arm.

"Neji." Was all he said. He wasn't quite sure what he should say.

Neji just yanked his arm loose and continued walking, not even looking at Sasuke. He didn't waste a word or a look on the raven. He just kept walking, distancing himself from the other.

But Sasuke wasn't just gonna let Neji walk off. He followed Neji once more and grabbed his arm more firmly.

"What was with that look?" He asked.

"Sasuke, let go of me." Neji said, as he was forced to stop walking.

"No. Why did you look at me like that?" Sasuke asked.

"Spare your breath, I don't want to talk to you anymore." Neji suddenly snapped. He then looked at Sasuke and gave him a glare. "You're making me sick. I never met someone who's this much of an asshole."

"Why am I an asshole?" Sasuke asked, trying to act like it didn't bother what Neji had just said. It did bother him though. A lot.

"You're selfish, you're ignorant, you're mean, you manipulate people, you act like a spoiled kid, you're hot headed and you're easily offended." Neji snapped. "Overall, the only good thing you did is save my life and take guard at night. But that's obviously not something you normally would do either, since you keep bringing it up and expect me to be nice to you and do whatever you want, because you did 'something' nice. I should keep my mouth shut because you saved me, I should not have an opinion and not go in against you. I should stay with you, listen to whatever you want me to do, and all of that because you saved me. If you despise things like that so much, let me rot the next time, because I refuse to be around you any longer."

Sasuke looked at Neji now. He didn't feel like he had been that much of an asshole at all. He had tried to keep it in. So how come Neji was so pissed off with him? He wasn't sure what to say now.

"You could also tell me immediately that you hate me." Neji now spat.

Sasuke frowned now.

"... I don't hate you." He said. He didn't understand where that came from.

"Sure Sasuke." Neji snapped. "You do everything to piss me off, every idea I have is not good enough according to you, if I can pull something off you can't appreciate it because of your immature way of handling things and you suddenly don't want it anymore, you're never nice to me and all you do is snap."

"That's not true." Sasuke said. "I don't do things to piss you off. And I am nice to you. No I'm not mister nice guy, but neither are you. You're the one who's always pissing me off with your emotionless blabbering and calling me a liar and what not. I can't believe you even dare to say those things about me and then tell 'me' I'm not nice to 'you'."

"The only time I called you a liar was with the berries, and I apologized for that." Neji snapped to Sasuke. "If you can't stand my emotionless 'blabbering', why are you still talking to me? It's how I am. I barely talk and I don't like expressing emotions. It's not an excuse to make up for your behaviour."

"I never said it was. And just now you called me lots of things." Sasuke snapped back now. "If you were such a good person, you wouldn't call me all those things without even knowing me. Because you can't possibly know me, because I don't even know who I am. So excuse me if I'm not exactly nice all the time."

"I never said I was a good person." Neji snapped. "I said that 'I' can't stand you anymore, and I decided to break contact. And you wanted to know why and I told you. So goodbye Sasuke, you can hang out with Kiba from now on." He once more freed his arm and walked into the direction of the exit from the city. It was obvious that Neji was pissed off for real.

Sasuke followed Neji once more.

"You can't possibly be for real. You're a pretty rotten person if you're just going to break contact like that. I've been nice to you, the only times I wasn't nice was with an inn owner, a bartender and a weirdo who wanted to have sex with you." He said.

"One more comment and I'm going to freeze your body." Neji snapped, as he kept walking.

"Oh that again? Is that all you can do? Knock my body out? And then you call me an asshole. If anyone has the right to be mad at someone, it's me, at you. If I am such a bad person, then how come I forgave you for being an asshole to me? How come I forgave you that you called me a liar and then you attacked me? And trust me, if I hated you, I wouldn't have stuck around for so long." Sasuke snapped.

Neji stopped walking now and glared holes into the tree.

"So you forgiving me for my mistakes is what makes you call yourself a nice person?" He then asked.

"It's what makes me a nice person to you." Sasuke said. "Besides, apart from being annoyed by some other guys and telling you what to do a few times, what did I ever do to you?"

"The whole list I told you when you asked me that question before." Neji snapped. "If there is no possible reason for me to be angry with you, then why would I be more pissed off because of you then I've ever been in my whole life?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, I'm not you." Sasuke snapped. "You're a complete mystery to me anyway."

"Perhaps because I'm in mind at least three hundred years older then you are." Neji answered. "I guess I forgot how to act around people who react on certain situations like five year olds."

Sasuke was silent as he tried not to look hurt.

"Now who's deliberately trying to piss the other off." He snapped, although it came out a little weaker than he had hoped for.

"This is actually the first time I am hurting you on purpose." Neji said. "And that should be a clear sign for you that you should fuck off right now."

"Yeah because telling my I'm selfish, ignorant, manipulate people and act like a child wasn't supposed to hurt me right? Telling me I was a liar and a murderer wasn't supposed to hurt me." Sasuke snapped. "You know what Neji, 'you' can just fuck off because I am sick of you. I've saved your butt, I've been nice to you, I've stuck by you even when you didn't want me to and all I get in return is you hating me. So if that's the way you are, then please, do fuck off and stay the hell away out of my life. I obviously misjudged you and wasted my time."

"I certainly will, goodbye Sasuke." Neji said and for the third time in their conversation, he walked off without giving Sasuke another look. Without answering one of Sasuke's questions. He obviously thought it was not worth it.

Sasuke looked at Neji and then on the spur of the moment, he picked up a rock and threw it to Neji. He didn't know why and in the time he did it, he was out of control, but he did it.

The stone hit Neji on the shoulder and Neji stopped walking. He stood still for a moment before storming back to Sasuke and giving him a hard hit across the cheek, that made Sasuke's head snap aside.

Sasuke turned his head to Neji again, about to hit him back, but then saw something he hadn't expected. Neji's eyes were actually filled with tears. And Sasuke didn't know what to anymore. Why was Neji looking like he was about to cry?

Neji looked at him for some time, before walking past Sasuke and hurrying himself away from the raven, into the direction of the village this time. He clenched his arms around his body to try to pinch away the stinging pain in his stomach that had come up some minutes ago. He was showing too much emotion, he realised as his knuckles were turning white. He had expected too much. Far too much.

Sasuke was still not sure what to do for a few seconds, but then turned around and followed Neji again. He turned him around and looked at him.

"... I'm sorry, you're right. I am an asshole." He said. It was all he could think off.

"Don't say those things just because you saw tears." Neji said as he quickly pushed Sasuke away and turned around again, so Sasuke could not see the tears that were now going down his face. He quickly started wiping them away.

"I'm not, I'm really sorry. I don't want to hurt you." Sasuke said and did something he himself hadn't expected either. He grabbed Neji's hand.

Neji immediately stiffened up completely now Sasuke touched him. But he didn't snatch his hand away. He was silent as he tried to stop the sobs that were coming up in his throat. He felt the pain in his stomach becoming worse and just when he realised it, he also realised that he couldn't breathe anymore.

Sasuke turned Neji around now, and grabbed him by the arms.

"I didn't mean to hurt you..." He said again, and frowned a little when he saw Neji. What was with him?

Neji frowned as he grabbed to his chest, while he frantically tried to breath. The pain started to become maddening and he felt his heart started to beat faster as well. He tried to relax, to bring himself back to normal, but it was like something was blocking his lungs.
Sasuke frowned even more now as he saw Neji like that. And he slightly panicked.

".. What's wrong? You have to breathe Neji." He said, and then let go of Neji quickly, as if he was the cause that Neji couldn't breathe right now.

Neji grabbed Sasuke's arm instead to support himself, as he shook his head.

"..C-can't breathe.." He gasped, while he was still gasping for air.

Sasuke's head was spiralling out of control for a while, before he did the only thing he could think off. He pulled Neji into a hug and rubbed his back softly.

"Just calm down... calm down Neji. Breathe." Sasuke softly said.

Neji kept on frowning as he tried to relax. First nothing happened and he started to feel dizzy because of lack of air, but slowly, he felt the pressure on his lungs becoming less and as he kept gasping, he could gulp in some air. Which made him panic even more, he tried to get in as much as air as possible.

"Don't do that, you have to do it calmly Neji. So calm down." Sasuke softly said. It was a weird feeling though, holding Neji like this. It freaked him out.

Neji gripped Sasuke's arms tightly and closed his eyes, trying to relax. He felt the sobbing coming up again but when he tried suppressing them another time, he felt the pressure getting heavier. So then he chose to let it out and be weak and he started sobbing. Immediately he started breathing again. The moment he realised he was crying he quickly let go of Sasuke and backed away. What on earth had just happened?

Sasuke looked at Neji, worried that something would happen to him again.

".. Don't cry." He said.

"..I.. I j-just have to be alone for some time now." Neji muttered, as he shook his head, wiping his tears while he still tried to breathe normally. "..Can you tell the guy f-from the inn I'm coming back later?"

"You're not leaving then?" Sasuke asked, confused now.

Neji shook his head now. He then walked further into the village. Showing tears to people was not something he liked. In fact, he hated it.

Sasuke looked at Neji leaving and then quickly put up his normal, slightly irritated face. He then decided to let this rest for a while, so he went to the inn's bartender and did as he was told. But this whole ordeal bugged him. And not just a little. He wondered why Neji had lost his breath. Was it him?