Hiiiiiiii! uh... Here's a virtual cookie for everyone reading this! And many thanks to Tigrezz-chan for her feedback! (Have a Neji plushie!) Thanks a bunch, Tigrezz-chan!
A/N: Naruto, Greek Deities, Rome, and the Coliseum don't belong to me
A/N 2: Incorrect usage of Greek/Roman mythology
A/N 3: Warning: Hidan's (and Naruto's!) language O.o
A/N 4: All flames will be used to sacrifice to Jashin
The Value of a Soul
Chapter 5: Normalities and Abnormalities
Neji silently opened the door leading to the blonde's prison cell. Quietly, he stepped in. His eyes scanned the scene before him soundlessly.
Lee was leaning against the wall, snoring slightly. As Neji watched, the legionary drooped, and slid down to the floor, where he lay in an uncomfortable looking position that would leave him sore when he woke up.
Opalescent eyes drifted over to where Kiba lay in the back of the cell, whimpering in his sleep. The brunet was repeatedly running his finger down his neck and clawing at ground frantically. The prince wondered what was going on in the dog boy's head.
His pearls whisked to Naruto who laid draped atop the frigid stone floor nearby the gate. Neji blinked unhurriedly. A lithe tan arm was stretched across the floor, and another was bent up to his whiskered cheek as a makeshift pillow. His legs bent ever so slightly, and his chest rose and fell at a leisurely pace.
Neji frowned. Come to think of it, now that he looked closely, Naruto's cheek didn't display any sign that he had injured it the eventide before. Pale grey eyes drifted over to the blonde's wrist. There was no scar from the cut he had inflicted on himself either. Neji's frown deepened.
He strode over to the and looked down. The blonde was a quiet sleeper. In fact, if it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest, he could be mistaken as dead.
He was in arms reach. Hesitantly, Neji reached through the bars, and placed his hand on the youth's shoulder. The long-haired brunet was surprised. From the temperature in the cell, he would have expected the blonde to be ice-cold, but his porcelain fingers were met with a warmth that was akin to the warmth of sunlight on a spring morning.
"...Neji?" Naruto's eyelids fluttered open to see the brunet standing over him. Sitting up, he yawned. "Is there anything you need of me?"
Neji nodded wordlessly. Naruto dipped his head in acknowledgement, as he slowly stood up. Grabbing the two bars in front of him, he bent them out of shape, until the gap was wide enough to walk through. Stepping out of the cell, he wrenched the bars back to normal.
Neji strolled out of the prison door without a comment, motioning for the blonde to follow him.
"Go," Neji ordered stiffly, pointing to the open gate. Naruto nodded, and shot him a small smile before traipsing into the arena that he had already been acquainted with once.
Neji watched as the gate closed, before doing an about face to the palace.
Naruto's feet disturbed the sandy ground as he stepped in. The gate closed behind him with an ear-aching creak. He blinked slowly, and beamed.
"Oh! Hello again, guys!" he called. They stared silently at him.
A lissome long-haired blonde eyed him carefully. The blonde's hair was held on the top of his head in a half-ponytail, secured with a leather strap. His hair hung down to the middle of his back, and a large bang covered the left side of his face.
At first Naruto could see nothing out of the ordinary with this gladiator, save the fact that he seemed to have a slight maidenlike quality.
"Hey!" The blonde raised a hand in greeting. "I'm Deidara, yeah!" His voice was surprisingly deep, but that would be the last thing in the list of reasons Naruto had for staring at him. Deidara sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. The mouth, right, yeah?" Naruto bit back a comment about speech impediments, and simply nodded dumbly.
The other blonde put his hands on his hips, and leaned his weight onto one side, making him seem even more feminine.
"The least you can do is talk, yeah!" he said. Naruto scratched his head.
"Uh...how many mouths do you have?" he asked. Deidara laughed in amusement.
"Oh that, yeah. I have four, yeah." Naruto suspected both his hands had mouths, but he didn't know where the fourth one was. Something told him he didn't want to know either.
"Okay..."
Deidara turned to another one of the gladiators.
"I guess I have to give it to him, yeah. He's said more than anyone else other than you guys when they first saw these, yeah," he remarked, lifting his hands as if trying to prove his point.
"So this is the new man-whore in the fucking business? You look more male-prostitute than Deidara! I mean put on a fucking shirt!" Naruto bit back shocked laughter at all the profanities in that sentence. He stared at the speaker.
"You're one to talk. You aren't wearing a shirt either, and you have the nerve to call me a man-whore? I think not."
The speaker was a pale-skinned, (mind you not as pale as Neji) mid-aged man with a well muscled body. Affirming Naruto's observations, he was wearing no shirt. Strapped to his back was the large red-bladed three pronged scythe. His hair was a pale shade of grey that was almost white, but he in no way looked old.
"Aw, not another one of you clean-spoken bastard youths," he groaned. Naruto let loose a vulpine smirk.
"Oh is that so? You're probaably just so fucking excited to see the son of Venus herself that your whorish erection is getting all jacked up. I bet you've already sold your fucking body to satan as his goddamned fucking pleasure slave so I'm sorry but I can't fuck with you, you jackassed fag!" Naruto retorted, fox smirk in full effect.
Everyone in the arena froze at the sudden vulgar outburst from the blonde. The blue skinned one with the giant sword suddenly burst into raucous laughter.
"Dear Diana, he got you good, Hidan! Even though I didn't understand half of what he said," he gasped, holding his sides as he chortled.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Hidan? This gladiator had a very dirty mouth indeed.
"Well, travelling with Chronos does have it's upside. I know all the future profanities. Mother became so angry when she found out..." He laughed at the memory. Everyone fell silent. He looked around. "What?" The tall blue-skinned one stared disbelievingly at him.
"You weren't joking?" he asked incredulously. The blonde tilted his head to one side confusedly.
"What with?" he asked.
"When you said you were the son of-" Naruto abruptly held up his hand, cutting off the shark-faced man's sentence. He turned to Gaara.
"You...you never told them?"
The redhead shook said body part. Naruto bit his lip.
"All right. Do not, under any circumstance, reveal my identity to anyone. I usually don't favour being this harsh, but if I find that any of you said anything, I will kill you." Gaara nodded.
"And I stand with Lord Naruto," he added. The raven dipped his head.
"You have me sworn to secrecy," he assured. "And you may call me Itachi."
"Yeah, me too. I'm Kisame," the shark-like one introduced.
"You are so fucking awesome!" Hidan excaimed, grinning. "Although you fucking cheated." Naruto shrugged.
"I'm not going to speak in that fashion as easily as you though," he informed.
"You may take your leave," a coldly familiar voice broke through their training.
Immediately, the other gladiators stopped and turned to the prince, bowing out of respect. Naruto smiled and walked up to him.
"Thank you. I need to heal," he remarked, glancing at all his minor wounds. Neji raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
The brunet led the way as they headed back to the palace, paying no heed to the blonde behind him. He didn't know why he was allowing the blonde so many opportunities to escape. He did note that said blonde never attempted to escape, and he didn't question it.
When they stepped into the inner court of the mansion, the alabaster-skinned youth turned to Naruto. He found no traces of wounds on his skin, not even blood. No scars or anything.
"May I accompany you to your quarters?" Naruto asked, politely enough he hoped. Neji stared at him for a while without blinking, before turning his back to the blonde.
"If that is what you wish," he simply replied, his voice betraying nothing.
When they made it into the prince's quarters, Naruto walked over to the aviary. He smiled. There were proabably at least three dozen birds in the fixture, and he recognized them all.
"I do hope you take good care of my friends?" he suggested. Neji's back was turned to him.
"Why do you ask? Do you too think I have no heart, and if I do, it's made of stone?" he replied. Naruto stiffened. Neji chuckled humourlessly.
"I know what the soldiers and commoners say about me. The exact same everyone says about me." Naruto pivoted to face the brunet's back. He strolled over to him at a leisurely pace.
"I have heard what they all say. I know what they think about you," he began. Neji hissed quietly. "But I also know that they're wrong!" Now it was Neji's turn to stiffen.
"What. Did. You. Say." He half-turned to see the blonde at the corner of his vision. Naruto smiled softly.
"I said, I believe that they're wrong about you."
Neji whisked around, and struck the blonde's cheek with some degree of force. He heard a very satisfying crack and saw crimson liquid drip down the corner of the blonde's mouth.
"Well I want you to know that I think they may be right. I'm nothing but a monster, and I don't care. I feel nothing for others, lest it be hatred, or anything of the like," he whispered sibilantly.
"Neji... there's good in everyone. There's good in you. You're trying to bury it because of something that happened in your life. I want to know what it was," Naruto stated, wincing slightly at the pain in his jaw. The youth may have broken it.
"Good? What is this good you speak of?" Neji hissed. "Good is only a ruse to cover up all the hatred within you. Good is a poison that threatens to choke you from your true feelings. There is no such thing as good, just like there are no such things as gods!"
The brunet brought his clenched fist back, to strike the blonde again, feeling inexplicably enraged. Naruto caught his fist, and smiled warmly at him, despite the fact that his jaw seared with pain when he did so.
"Do you remember what I said, Neji?" he asked. "About my blood? I said I would never let you see it, unless it be of my own will."
The brunet prince didn't see where this was going. Naruto closed his eyes, the smile still plastered on his face. Neji, after years of experience, had learned how to read emotions very well. He couldn't understand why the youth was smiling a real smile.
"I have a feeling you will be seeing quite a lot of my blood," Naruto informed. Neji drew back his fist. What was that?
"Do me a favour and get out," Neji murmured in a threatening undertone. "I want to kill you, but at the same time I don't. So unless you want to meet your end here and now, leave!" he ordered.
Naruto nodded in assent and stepped out of the room, hearing a shriek emit from the lower grounds.
He sighed. Who did Neji spear this time? This was not going to be an easy mission. At all.
Trribly sorry for the lack of length in the chapter. I only had so much time... Anyways, it seems like I'm bent on driving Neji and Naruto apart instead of bringing them together. I'm sorry about all the Naruto abuse going on. I'll try not to injure his face anymore, but no guarantees that he won't get injured again. And sorry is Neji's being a bastard. He'll come around. I promise. "And I never go back on my word! Because that's my ninja way!" quot: -Uzumaki Naruto
Anyways...oh I dunno. Wanna cookie?
-Jeya-