Liana's POV
*Dream- 8 years old*
Liana woke up a bit to see she was in a room in a bed.
"W-Where am I," she said as she looked to her right to see there was a kid with pale lavender eyes and a green mark on his forehead.
"You are at the Hyuga Compound, you are safe. I am Neji, what is your name," he asked.
"Liana," she said.
"I can tell we will be the best of friends once you are off my bed," he said as they laughed.
"Yeah, thank you for saving me," she said.
"Oh, it wasn't me it was-," he said when a man with pale eyes like his came into the room with a pitcher of water.
"Ahh, I see you are awake. How are you feeling," the man said as he walked over to her on the other side of the bed and set the pitcher on the ground.
"Somewhat better, were you the one who saved me," she asked as he took the rag on her forehead off.
"Yes, you were lucky my son and I went for a walk or you would have died," he said.
"Yes and thank you very much. I am Liana by the way," she said.
"Nice to meet you Liana and I am Hizashi, Neji's father," he said as he dipped the rag in the pitcher and placed it on her forehead.
"Thanks again," she said.
"Neji, how about you get her something to eat, maybe an apple," Hizashi said.
"Okay, be right back," Neji said as he ran out of the room to get some food and she looked at Hizashi to see he had a green mark on his forehead too.
"Excuse me, if you don't mind me asking, what is the green mark on your forehead," she asked.
"Oh, I see you noticed that, well, it is a mark of the other branches of the Hyuga clan. Neji has one as well because of me. You see, I have a twin who was born before me. The main house thinks of the other branches as servants. I didn't want that fate for my son, he has natural talent but he cannot learn the clan's most secret techniques because of his birthright," he said.
"It must be rough, having to deal with something like that. How is Neji taking it," she asked.
"You know, that is too much I already said and you need to get some rest. You nearly drowned after all," he said as he placed his hand on her forehead and she fell asleep.
End Dream
Morning
Liana woke up to the sun shining in her face and remembered she had training today.
"Morning already," she said as she sat up in bed and noticed her window was open.
"Must have left it open last night," she said as she got out of bed and closed it.
She walked over to her closet and picked out her regular dark blue skirt on top of black pants with a white tank top and black fishnets on underneath with her blue fingerless gloves then changed into them. She grabbed her pouch, strapped it on and put her drawing book in it then tied her forehead protector around her forehead.
"Alright, I will need my ink this time," she said as she walked to the kitchen, saw all her small orb containers of ink on a rack on the table.
There were many colors but mostly black ink with a couple of red, blue and green. She grabbed the ink and hooked them onto her right wrist like a tight wrist band. She also hooked them around her neck as a choker. She grabbed another pouch sitting next to the rack that was as long as her thigh and latched it onto her left thigh. She grabbed about five more containers and put it in the long pouch. She grabbed an apple to eat and walked to the front door. She put her shoes on and ate her apple.
"Time for some real training," she said as she finished eating the apple and threw the core away.
She walked out the front door and to the veranda where she was to meet up with the rest of the squad. She sat and waited for the rest of the team then decided to draw for a bit. She drew a drawing of all the boy rookies using black and red ink. She finished drawing the drawing when she heard someone walking towards her. She looked up to see Neji was walking towards her.
"Hey Neji," Liana said.
"Hey Liana, you okay," he asked as he sat next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I am fine and thanks again for comforting me last night," she said.
"You are welcome and are they the rookies from your class," he asked as he took his hand off her shoulder and looked at the drawing.
"Yes they are and some of the most annoying ones too. Like Naruto, you probably already know him from his many pranks on the village but can I ask you something," she asked as she looked at him.
"Sure, what is it," he asked.
"Do you remember-," she started to say when she heard the rest of the squad were walking towards the two of them.
"Well, you two, glad to see you are getting along," Gai sensei said.
"Yes, so, when we starting training," she asked.
"Right now, you will get a head start and we will attack when we want to. Remember, one hundred laps around the village," Gai sensei said and she nodded and slid the book into her pouch.
"I'll ask you later," she said and ran off towards the woods.
Neji's POV
Neji watched as she ran off to the woods to run then he would join and attack her as part of training.
"So, Neji, what did she mean by what she said," Lee asked.
"Nothing Lee, nothing at all," Neji said.
"Sure doesn't look like nothing, Neji. Are you crushing on her," Tenten asked.
"What, I do not have a crush on her," Neji said. "Really, you sure because you two do make a cute couple," Gai sensei said.
"No, I do not like her like that," Neji said.
"So, you do like her," Tenten said.
"Yes as a friend and a fellow shinobi of this village but right now we have training to do," Neji said as he ran off towards the woods to attack Liana while the rest of the squad followed behind him.
Is it that obvious that I like her but I tried as much as I can to conceal it.
Liana's POV
Liana was still running a few laps when she heard the rest of the squad get into positions. She looked to your left to see Tenten and her right to see Lee.
Alright, let's start.
She erupted her ink long enough to get their bottles open and formed a few weapons with them. She sent them at Tenten and some at Lee. They both avoided them and she avoided their attacks. Lee kept coming in for close range attacks like a few punches but she managed to kick him away while Tenten attacked with a shaft from one of her scrolls. Liana dodged and threw Lee into Tenten sending them both to the ground below. She looked down to see Gai sensei was there and was coming in for a close range attack as well. She looked up to see Neji was in the trees above her.
Okay, let's see what you two got.
Liana called some ink from her bottles and formed four kunais with two flash bombs and the other two with paper bombs. She threw them all further ahead of her set to ignite as she reached the middle of the four. Neji must have caught onto her idea and went in for the attack as did Gai.
Perfect, just like I planned.
"Come and get me if you can," Liana said as she ran into the middle while they all followed behind her.
The bombs set off and she escaped in the smoke while leaving them all in the smoke. She kept running in a direction to get away from them before they could find her again and kept running for fifty two more laps when she realized she was not heading in the right direction.
"Wait, where am I," she said as she changed direction to find the original path when she noticed something was different with the trees on this path.
She noticed they were starting to thin out which is what happens when there is water. She jumped off a branch expecting to change direction on another branch when she noticed she was over a river.
"NOO," she said as she fell to the water below.
"HELP, SOMEBODY HELP. I CAN'T SWIM," she yelled and yelled expecting someone to hear her.
Neji's POV
Neji were looking for Liana when he heard some screams.
"HELP, SOMEBODY HELP. I CAN'T SWIM," he heard the scream say.
"LIANA," he yelled to see if she will yell back but she didn't.
Neji activated his Byakugan and saw she was in a river and got a mouth full of water.
"LIANA," he yelled as he ran in the direction of the river.
Neji arrived at the river to see there were air bubbles but no Liana. He dove into the water where the air bubbles were and swam further down when he saw Liana sinking like a rock. She hit the bottom of the river and just laid there.
Liana
Neji swam faster and grabbed her. He wrapped her one arm around her neck and his arm around her waist to help her up. He pushed off the bottom and swam up towards the surface. He was almost there when he noticed Liana might not make it in time to the surface. He placed his lips on hers and gave her some of his air. He saw her eyes open and were shocked but knew what he was doing and passed out again. He stopped and continued to swim up to the surface. He burst through the surface and gasped for air while holding onto Liana to see she wasn't breathing. He swam to shore and pulled her onto the land. He took off her top shirt and choker and her ink bottles on it might be clogging her air way but she didn't wake up. He performed CPR on her a few times until she coughed up some water and looked up at her.
"N-Neji," she said as they smiled.
Man, her smile is so breathtaking.
Liana's POV
Liana looked at him and his face was close enough to lean up and kiss. She was about to kiss him when the rest of the squad arrived.
"Hey, we heard some screaming, is everything alright," Gai sensei asked.
"Yeah, Liana almost drowned," Neji said as he helped her to sit up when she noticed she was wearing only fishnets and her top shirt was thrown aside. She looked at Neji to see he had to take her top shirt off.
"Thanks," she said as she saw Lee walk behind her and she immediately thought about the marks on her back.
"Liana, what is all this on your back," Lee asked as she felt him touching her back.
Liana looked at Neji to see there was something in his eyes that tells her that he didn't like Lee touching her.
"Lee it is probably a b-," Tenten said as she walked to Lee and she felt her looking at her back.
"Liana, what is it that you forgot to mention," Gai sensei asked as he squat down in front of her.
"My back is what happened in my past. Why I was always running and the reason I am able to keep up with you running as well as why my chakra acts on instinct. If one of you snapped a twig my chakra will over react and attack. I was running from three thugs who are still after me. They were at my house last night when Neji came to give me my book back. I never stayed in a village for so long because then they would find me," she said.
"Who are these thugs," Gai asked.
"I-I can't tell you, the-they said if I did then they would kill my friends again. They already killed some of my friends and family and I don't want to lose you guys too," Liana said as she started to cry.
Neji bent down next to her and she cried into his chest while he wrapped his arms around her.
"How many marks on your back," Lee asked and she turned to face him.
"Five-hundred and thirteen and they form the eyes of one of the thugs," she said as all of their eyes grew wide.
"Liana, how did you survive it," Tenten asked.
"My books tell everything which is why I drew them. Neji already saw them in my room and knows what each one means. He saw a few but not all of them," she said as Neji unwrapped his arms and took his shirt off then draped it over her shoulders.
"Your cold, you need to get somewhere warm, I'll take her home," Neji said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, helped her up and grabbed her top shirt off the ground.
"Alright, training is done and I have an announcement for you four tomorrow at the same veranda," Gai sensei said.
"Thank you," she said and walked away with Neji who still had his arm around her and his bare chest shown in the sun that was setting.