Me: Heeeey…'Sup homies! It's been a while, hasn't it?

Innerselves: Our dear host doesn't give a -beep- that she has abandoned this story for a while.

Me: That's not true! Okay, maybe around two percent…But still-!

Innerselves: Whatever you say, dear host. Y'all should know the disclaimers by now, right? If not, please go back to the previous chapters and read them there, k?

Me: Ooh…! A little fun fact: Emi-chan and I have already turned 15 this year! Yay us…!

Warnings: Swearing. Much of it...and I'm sorry if Neji's more than a little OOC in this chapter! Many apologies...!

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Flashback:-

"Only a failure would faint in the middle of a forest." A frustratingly familiar voice sounded right beside me. I sputtered indignantly as I tried to turn my head around to look at the

source of that familiar, arrogant voice, "E-excuse me?! You bastard, who the hell do you think you ar- Oh fuck. Come on...even sucking up to Lee was better than this...!" By then I

was half-delirious from the heat, I think...so while half-crying, half cursing my accursed luck I thought to myself out loud, "Why me...Why you...Why Neji...?!"

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Back to the present time...

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Said object of aggravation merely raised an eyebrow at my apparent annoyance over his presence. After my insistent swearing calmed down to a few irritated glares at the Hyuuga

prodigy, the latter asked, "Are you really a girl?" It took two seconds before I face-vaulted to the ground. This guy is unbelievable…! Who asks these kind of questions anyway?! Feeling

more than a little irritated, Elaine quickly recovered and retorted back, "Of course I'm a girl, you idiot! Are you blind or something, huh? Oh wait, don't even bother answering that..."

Tired out by her little outburst, she flopped back to the ground. "Emi-chaaaan...I miss youuu...Please come back, pretty please with a cherry on top?" Closing his eyes, Neji just tried

to ignore the mutterings of the weird girl next to him and started to meditate instead.

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Somewhere in the tower, Emily Suoh sneezed. Hinata who was walking beside her at the time asked if she was alright, albeit with plenty of stuttering. The elder Suoh waved off her

concerns with a smile, "It's only Eli-chan talking to herself again. She'd better hurry up and get here..." Having said that she walked to the window, looked out to the forest and with

a small smile on her face, whispered softly, "I miss you too, Eli-chan..."

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Opening her eyes, Elaine soon realized she had fallen unconscious again. The next thing her brain registered was the fact that she had her arms around a certain long-haired

Hyuuga prodigy's neck. Her eyes widened infinitely. Why the heck am I riding Neji's back?? As if reading her thoughts, Neji turned his head slightly to look at her. "I see you're finally

awake. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yup, I feel much better n-...Wait a second, WHAT AM I DOING ON YOUR BACK?!" Elaine half-screamed into his ear. Neji seemed unaffected though, and just turned back to ignoring

her. A slight jolt to her body suddenly startled her. Finally looking around her, she saw that Neji was actually travelling by jumping from tree branch to branch at breakneck speed.

Without warning, he tightened his grip on her legs and doubled his speed, rendering the surroundings to be nothing but a green blur.

"Woah...! What's the hurry? Where's Lee anyways? I haven't seen him since I fell unconscious back then..." Neji just stayed silent and ignored all her questions once again.

A vein popped in Elaine's forehead, more than a little annoyed by now she dealt a hard smack to his head. "Ow! What th-" Thanks to Elaine, their speed had slowed down a little.

"Now listen here you fisher! Stop acting cool just because you think you're too smart for the rest of us! You may be a genius, but that doesn't give you the right to ignore me...! NOW

ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, DAMNMIT! She was practically screeching into his ear, but Elaine didn't give a damn at this point.

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After a very, very long pause, Elaine was already willing to bet Neji was secretly deaf in both his ears when he quietly said, ".....That fool got hurt protecting our rivals. A team of

Sound Genin gravely injured him soon after he left you in my care and Tenten has already gone ahead with him to the tower first so that leaves you with me. Does that answer all

your questions?"

A look of understanding passed briefly on Elaine's face before she replied with a huge ear-splitting grin, "Yup! You know...you're not so bad after all! I'm sorry I hit you just now

(even though you did deserve it) but I forgive you!"

"Hn."

Elaine continued as if nothing happened though, "By the way, we haven't properly introduced ourselves. My name's Elaine Suoh."

"...Hyuuga Neji."

"Aww...don't be such a stick-up-the-a**...! Lighten up, dude!"

"....."

Hmmm...She mentally pouted. Suddenly, she leaned over and poked his cheek. "Hey, Neji...?"

"....."

Undeterred, she kept poking his cheek as he continued jumping from branch to branch at an inhumane speed.

"...What is it, Suoh-san?"

"Call me Eli-chan!" Elaine chirped brightly.

-Sigh…- "What is it, Eli-chan."

Wow, that was easy. "You have very pretty eyes, you know that?"

"So...?"

"...Doesn't that bother you in the least?"

"No, it's common knowledge that I'm more good looking than some others in the village."

"My, my...you're awfully self-centered aren't you?"

"Hn."

"Seriously though, you've got to stop with the 'hn's'. We don't want you becoming Sasuke no.2 now, would we?"

"...Hai."

Elaine's voice suddenly took on a more serious tone. "...Were you scared when you saw him...?"

"...What do you mean?"

She went on as if he didn't said a word, "Well I wouldn't blame you if you were, it wouldn't surprise me at the very least. He just got bitten by Oro-chi after all. -Sigh- I hope Lee gets better, though I can't say the same for that Sound genin who got both his arms dislocated by Sasuke. -giggles-"

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Neji whipped his head around to stare at her for a while before asking, "...How did you know all that?"

Giggling a little, she just grinned at him and said, "Ask no questions, and I'll tell you no lies... Oh, I can see the tower already! I can't wait to see Emi-chan again...! She's my nee-

chan by the way, I'll introduce her to you! I'm sure she'll be glad to know you too...right, Neji?"

"...Hai."

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Now wasn't this chapter awesome?? I know it isn't really, but hey! I like to fool myself sometimes...See you guys soon~