Hey all I'm finally ready to give you chapter two. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: As always I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form. If I did I wouldn't have to return Neji-kun when I was done playing with him

Story: What These Blind Eyes See

Chapter 2: Arrival

Characters: Hyuuga Neji/OC

For the most part, she only had a vague awareness of her surroundings. She was mostly subdued by unconsciousness, but she still had limited access to her senses. For instance, she was very aware of the throbbing pain in her head.

As she tried to bury the pain, she reached out with her addled mind to see what else she could discern. The first thing she noticed was smell; a strong woodsy smell assaulted her senses as her prone body breathed. The next thing she became aware of was a tickling sensation on her cheek; she could only conclude that it was hair, as she felt a strong breeze rushing over the front of her body.

'I must be moving very quickly…but how?' She was puzzled by this, seeing as she couldn't even open her eyes, let alone be moving at the settled pace.

Almost as if in answer to her mental query, she became aware of strong arms holding her. This feeling caused an odd tightening in her chest; for a second she couldn't breathe. She felt the arms shift and adjust, pulling her up against what she presumed to be her captor's chest, as one arm slid more securely lengthwise on her body. This new position gave her the odd sensation of being cradled. Suddenly her captors scent filled her senses, overwhelming the smell of trees.

'Definitely male,' was her first thought as it washed over her.

At first she could only smell his sweat and the fact that he probably hadn't bathed in a couple of days. Underneath that odor though, she could smell his chakra flow; it was powerful but not erratic, she could tell it was tightly controlled.

'Ninja…?' she questioned mentally, but of course received no answer.

Intrigued, she dug deeper, trying to reach the base of his scent; the smell that came naturally, the one a person is born with. After sifting through all the other smells, she found it. It was surprisingly light and airy, like a summer's breeze that carried with it an earthy, almost floral scent. Some would mistake this for a woman's smell, but to her, it was distinctly male. Oddly enough, this stranger's flowery scent made her feel so protected, that she allowed herself to give into the pounding in her head, letting unconsciousness consume her fully.

***

Hyuuga Neji; Jounin level shinobi of the village hidden in the leaf, leapt confidently and gracefully from branch to branch on the ancient trees that surrounded his home village of Konoha.

'Who is this girl, and why is she so important that the Hokage deigned to bother me with such a trivial matter,' Neji asked himself this question for the hundredth time as he regarded the filth ridden bundle of female in his arms.

A sudden small gasp, coming from the general direction of the lump he carried, broke through his mental ranting. Neji spared her the briefest of glances before pulling her up more securely against his chest. For a brief moment, he felt her body tense, as if preparing to leap to the rushing ground beneath them. After his arms tightened of their own accord, he felt her relax into his hold.

The feeling of this unknown "female" lying pliant and unassuming in his arms caused an unfamiliar and wholly uncomfortable tightening in his own person. Neji swiftly picked up his pace, leaving his traveling companions, Lee and Tenten, behind in the wake of his superior speed. He was spurred on by his sudden need to be rid of this girl and the unwelcome, begrudged reactions she arose out of him.

***

Tenten tried to giggle softly behind her hand as she considered her normally stoic teammate's recent behavior.

'This strange chain of events started with Lee,' she thought, as her glance slid sideways to the green clad ninja running beside her—when didn't Lee ever not start anything strange, for all of them?

They were running behind schedule, because Lee had insisted that they stop and help some traveling merchants they'd come upon with a broken wagon wheel. Of course it wasn't the helping them that put them behind on their time table, it was the fact that Lee wouldn't leave until he found a gift for "his" little cherry blossom.

Lee continued to be presciently oblivious to the fact that the pink haired medical kunoichi would never; well, short of a serious blow to the head anyway, return his affections. Unfortunately, where Sakura was concerned, nothing could deter Lee from finding the "perfect gift." They had to wait for him before moving on.

Of course Lee's behavior wasn't what was strange. What was strange was the fact that Neji went along with this breach in protocol without so much as a muttered complaint or glare. In fact, Neji had seemed even more distant than normal, and some might say he was downright distracted by something. However, once they resumed their mission, Tenten merely dismissed the whole incident as nothing.

Though not as eccentric as their youthful teammate, Neji also had an odd characteristic of his own.

They managed to make up most of the lost time with Neji as their own personal slave driver. Despite that, they were still late; 10 minutes too late, to be exact. This minuscule error had lead to this girl's grievous condition.

Once they had arrived at the scene, Neji had quickly surveyed the area, and ordered her and Lee to go after their target's pursuers. The girl's attackers had proved quick as lightening; darting off in separate directions, making it impossible to follow them all.

So they turned back to their team leader's location. The sight that greeted them was abnormal, to say the least. First thing they became aware of was the actuality that there, on top of Neji's head, appeared to be a bird. The falcon was screeching and pecking at his forehead, angrily flapping its wings, its talons digging into his scalp, a thin trickle of blood tracking its way down his cheek.

Lee promptly fell over, hysterically laughing at the defeated expression on his "rival's" face, as Neji attempted to ignore the bird and continue with his examination of the girl. Tenten merely looked on in awe as she watched the Hyuuga prodigy rip off one of the selves of his traditional clothing, only to tear it into strips. He then used this, combined with rain water, to clean and bandage the girl's wounds as best he could.

Of course it wasn't the actions that shocked Tenten the most, it was the obvious care he was using with the girl, and the fact that he didn't seem like he felt the task was beneath him. Now that she thought about it, Neji didn't hadn't even acknowledged their presence until he was satisfied with the girl's wound coverings.

Neji looked over to Tenten, conveying his orders with his lavender eyes, only speaking her name. Then without another word, he gathered the girl in his arms, and took off in the direction of home, an angry bird still puffed up on his head. Tenten sighed; and, rolling her eyes, grabbed Lee who was still on the ground, and leapt off in the direction Neji had gone.

Thinking about all of this, Tenten's face briefly flushed with shame as her gaze slipped to the ragged, bloody and barely breathing, bundle carried by Neji. It was their fault this unknown girl was injured, and if she died before reaching the village their mission would be a failure. It was at this point Neji began to sprint ahead of them. This left Tenten, and even someone like Lee, to struggle behind him.

'What's his problem?, Tenten thought, perplexed by his sudden departure.

She looked over at Lee, who seemed to be oblivious as usual to anything out of the ordinary. He'd spent the last ten minutes gushing about how much his little flower would love the new lotus shaped hair comb he'd purchased. Tenten decided that she would discuss this issue with Lee once they returned to Konoha.

***

Once they reached the village, Neji didn't bother checking in at the gate, or heading in the direction of Hokage Tower, rather, he headed for the village hospital. His teammates panted behind him, even Lee was now picking up on Neji's change in behavior. However, Neji paid them, and the front desk of the hospital, no attention, as he sped down the hall in search of a certain person.

"We're with him." Ten-Ten and Lee called out, to the flustered looking front desk nurse, as they went running past her.

The white eyed shinobi resisted the unbidden urge to crow in delight, as he found the person he was looking for in the nurse's break room. Sitting at a round table, and drinking tea, were Sakura, Ino and his cousin, Hinata. Hinata was the first to stand, seeing the disheveled state of her usually composed cousin, and Sakura, seeing the dirty, injured human form he carried.

"….W-what happened?" Hinata asked in her quiet voice, as she shuffled her feet.

Neji didn't answer her, his eyes set on Sakura. He stepped up until he was nearly toe to toe with the pink haired girl; and for an instant, she thought she saw a pleading look in his otherwise placid eyes. It was gone just as quickly as it came.

The next thing she knew was that Neji had stiffly, but gently filled her arms with the girl he had been carrying. The bird on his head quickly transferred from his to Sakura's. Then with one last look at the girl in her arms, Neji's gaze flicked up to lock with Sakura's foam green eyes. Then without warning, he exited the room in the blink of an eye, through the open window.

"Where'd he go now?" Tenten and Lee cried in unison from the doorway.

The two exhausted ninja collapsed in a heap of weariness, as three medics, and an annoyed bird, watched the window's curtain flutter in the breeze.

I hope that you all enjoyed the second chapter, so please read and review. As always to my beta reader none-of-that you are a Goddess truly.