Hallos! I'm being mean aren't I? Say it! I am aren't I? No? You're deluding yourselves. Hmph. Okayz. So what say w just go on and see what happens?
A/N: Naruto, Greek Deities and Rome don't belong to me.
A/N 2: Incorrect usage of Greek mythological figures.
A/N 3: All flames will be used to sacrifice to Jashin
The Value of a Soul
Chapter 13: Splintering Under Pressure
Neji's face contorted into a rare epitome of suffering. His jaws clenched and his grip on his head tightened trying desperately to block the howl emitting from the throat of the blonde.
He was completely and utterly confused. Why did the pained sound hurt him so much? He felt like his heart was slowly shattering into millions of razor sharp fragments, each shearing ruthlessly away at his insides.
What he didn't understand, was why he felt like that. He hadn't done anything to hurt himself, and he wasn't in any way injured, yet the pain was near intolerable.
He forced his face back into it's normal expressionless mask, and opened his eyes. He half turned, to see five faces, two of which were staring in shock, one silently screaming sacrilege, and the other two silently glaring, eyes glittering dangerously.
He glanced up at the blonde, and levered himself onto his feet. Reaching out, he silently traced the three whisker-marks on a tanned, but now pale cheek. Drawing his pale blood soiled hand back slightly, he allowed it to make contact with the blonde's cheek, causing his face to fling abruptly to one side, and the wound in his neck to widen, no doubt injuring him internally as well.
This only served to increase the brunet's pain. Neji gritted his teeth angrily. What was this foreign emotion. What was it doing here? After all the trouble he had gone through to shut it all out, it had broken through his walls?
He scanned the blonde's limp form, pain escalating to an almost faint-worthy level. Grimacing inwardly, he swiftly pulled five knives out of the blonde, save the one embedded in his chest. Twin pearls staring at the weapon almost as if in a trance, his hand went to yank it out, internally wincing at the freed crimson.
That was it. His body turned against his mind, as it automatically, caught the youth as he crumpled to the sandy ground of the arena. Laying him gently on the ground, the impassive prince searched for his carotid artery. It was fairly easy to find, seeing he had just missed stabbing it.
He waited silently, unaware of the five warriors that hurried over, and gazed worriedly down at the blonde.
"Sacrilege! Fucking sacrilege!" the pale haired one whispered, horror evident in his voice. The eyes of the redhead narrowed, as he kneeled down beside the body.
"You do not know what you have done," he murmured in his default tone. His hand roved over to the gash on the blonde's chest, shoulder's relaxing slightly when he saw that it had already begun to heal.
"Prince Neji, you don't know who he is do you, yeah?" the long-haired slightly feminine blonde asked.
The brunet didn't answer, or even acknowledge them. His slender fingers felt a weak, erratic pulse. Standing up, he picked up the blonde, and slowly walked towards the entrance. The five gladiators didn't dare follow.
They all turned to each other, before stepping away from Gaara, as they saw his eyes narrow, hostility flashing evidently, as the arena sand swirled intimidatingly around him.
"Let's train," he murmured, his hands lazily exercising the sand around him.
"Tsunade. Sakura."
The two medics knew that voice all too well. They turned to the brunet, and gaped at the bloody figure in his arms.
"What happened?" Tsunade asked, urgency distinct in her voice. Neji blatantly refused to answer, instead laying the body on a nearby bed.
Sakura immediately pulled out their supplies, as Tsunade examined the blonde carefully.
"From what I can deduce by looking, it appears Naruto deliberately allowed this to happen to him," she stated. Her pink-haired apprentice blinked.
"But why would he do that? He doesn't seem like the type to give in to such treatment." Tsunade nodded in agreement.
"That's what worries me," she replied. Sakura glanced sternly down at the blonde, a glint of worry in her eyes.
"You idiot!" she hissed, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. Tsunade began to inspect the wound on his chest, whilst talking to the maiden.
"Well, it definitely was an idiotic notion," she agreed. "But I strongly suspect that he had a motive behind allowing this to happen. The only thing I want to know..." She looked at the brunet, who hovered over them, as impassive as ever.
"Who did this to him?" she asked. The prince's eyes glazed over darkly, and he muttered something incoherent. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "I'm starting to suspect something else," she added. Sakura glanced curiously at her.
"And what might that be?" she asked, eager to know. Tsunade bit her bottom lip uncertainly. Neji stared stoically at them.
"I know what you suspect," he informed. "And it's true," he added, walking out of the room before they had a chance to respond. Tsunade opened her mouth as she began carefully cleaning the wounds.
"But why?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. Sakura didn't question the matter any futhur.
"What is the extent of damage?" the pink-haired maiden asked. The blonde woman's eyes narrowed.
"Quite a lot. I'm surprised he's not dead. His heart somehow managed not to take the full brunt of it, but what I'm worried about is his neck. He must have spoken when it was embedded there, causing a fair amount of damage to the pipes," she explained.
"Ah..." Sakura responded, feeling a little sick at the blonde's suddenly masochistic behaviour.
"Oh hey, Sakura, Tsunade! I just wanted to drop by before I l-" Hana's voice was cut off as she saw the two at work. "Oh, sorry," she apologized. Sakura grinned and waved.
"No problem, just an idiot," she reassured. The brunet raised an eyebrow.
"Which one? You call basically everyone an idiot." Sakura ignored the quip, and pointed to the blonde. Onyx eyes widened.
"Is that...Naruto?" Tsunade raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"Oh, so you know him?" Hana nodded.
"Yes, I met him this morning when I was checking out the rawhides for the Haimaru brothers. I left them outside the infirmary so they won't disturb you," she said.
"Oh."
The brunette walked up to the two medics and the blonde, and glanced at him. Her eyes widened, and she faltered back.
"What happened?" she almost shrieked, but was silenced by a glare from Tsunade.
"I don't know," she lied. "The prince Neji brought him in here. Poor kid was half-dead."
Ebony eyes scanned the wounds thoughtfully. They seemed deep, but they were already healing at a rapidly inhuman pace.
"He let it happen deliberately didn't he," she stated. Tsunade nodded.
"Yes. For what reason though, I know not. His heart survived much worse damage, but what I'm afraid of is his voice. He'll either end up in a default hoarse rasp, mute, or dead," she informed. Hana blinked.
"Here. Try this, as a salve," she said, handing the blonde woman a glass vial. "You shouldn't need too much." Tsunade nodded in thanks, and took the vial, handing it to Sakura.
"Thanks. I didn't know you brought this out of house...?" she asked. Hana chortled.
"I bring at least a small container of it anywhere. You never know," she explained. Sakura glanced down at the vial.
"What is it?" she asked curiously. Hana smiled coyly.
"That's for me to know. It's my specialty, but the ingredients are hard to come by," she admitted. "Anyways, it was nice seeing you guys, and I hope Naruto gets better, but I have to go. Mother only gave me so much time..." Tsunade snorted.
"Ha. Tell her I send greetings. Tsume ought to come visit every so often," she said. Hana nodded, and waved as she stepped out of the room, to be tackled by three large dogs.
"All right, I will, Bye n- Hey! Heel, boys!"
Neji leaned against the rail of the balcony, gazing expressionlessly out into the bright blue near cloudless sky. His fist clenched, and unclenched in confusion.
Why did his chest hurt so badly? What was this? Why could he feel an emotion so strong, it threatened to drive him to insanity beyond that of no emotion? Why could he even feel emotion at all? What was wrong with him?
Sighing resignedly, he strolled back into his bedroom. Running his fingers along the engravings in his bed-frame, he hooked a curl, and twisted it counterclockwise.
A drawer slid out, and stopped halfway. He pulled the rest out, and took a silver tubular object. Snapping the drawer shut, he sat down on a mat, and began to play.
Serene, yet melancholic notes hung in the air, as lissome finger's drifted gracefully on and off openings in the flute. Icy opals slowly closed as a certain brunet lost himself to the music.
It seemed as though when the prince couldn't put his life into words, instead, he chose to put it in the lilting tones of his flute. While some notes rang out loud and clear, others wavered. While some were simple, others were complicated. While some sounded remotely cheerful, others could call to the dead.
After about an hour of playing out his life, he set the instrument down, and breathed in and out at a leisurely pace.
His heart beat rapidly, but he suspected that it was because he had used up quite a bit of oxygen playing non-stop for about an hour.
The sun hung at it's zenith in the pale cornflower coloured sky disturbed here and there by puffs of white. Sunlight streamed into his room, making the colours it was toned with shine richly. Neji blinked as light hit his eyes.
Quickly, he placed his flute back into hiding, and headed down. Stopping by the infirmary, he decided to check on the blonde. This brought back memories of the morning, and his chest began to ache with a dull pain. He grasped the fabric lying atop of it, more confused than anything.
Stepping quietly into the infirmary, he found the blonde, with a brunet hovering worriedly over him. At the sound of an intruder, the other brunet looked up. Neji could see stale tear trails on his cheeks.
"What happened?" Kiba near screamed. "Why is he like this? What did you do?" For once in his life, Neji didn't want to retaliate. His hand clenched tightly as the feeling in his chest began to throb painfully.
"What gives you the right to ask?" he retorted coldly. The brunet opposite of him clenched his fists.
"It's because I care about him! I have the right to care about someone don't I? Is it really so bad to care?" the Inuzuka asked. Neji's eyes widened.
"Neji, why didn't you tell me?" he asked. Eyes still closed, the brunet raised an eyebrow.
"Why didn't I tell you what?"
"What was going on. Someone is plotting against you and your family. Why didn't you tell me?" The prince's opals stared into sapphire orbs.
"It does not concern you," he answered. Naruto sighed, and averted his eyes from Neji's.
"I know that," he replied quietly. "But I care, Neji. Is it really so bad to care about you?" he asked. Neji blinked slowly.
"You care about me. What is this? No one should care." Naruto looked back at him, and Neji was surprised to see pain branded into them.
"Neji, everyone should be cared about. Even if they don't deserve it. Is it really so bad?"
"What is it about him," Neji murmured tonelessly. "Why is he so hard to deal with?" Kiba shoook his head defiantly.
"No, Prince Neji. It's not Naruto. It's you. He tries his best to get along with everyone he meets. He wants harmony. Whilst you...You have isolated yourself from everyone else. I don't know a lot about you prince Neji, but I've seen people like you. You've tried to crush your emotions to nonexistence. But where does it land you?" His tone grew harsh.
"Do you have any idea what you've done! You're the only one I know who Naruto would deliberately take a vent of rage from without retaliating. This," he said, pointing to Naruto's half-dead form. "Has to be from you! You have no idea who Naruto is, do you. If he dies, you're as good as dead, and I'm not even threatening you!"
The Inuzuka, abruptly stopped his outburst, panting furiously. He turned to the blonde, and stroked his cheek.
"Naruto...don't die...please!" he quietly begged.
Neji's chest ached beyond anything. Finding it near intolerable, he gasped, and quickly exited the room, leaving the two alone.
Okies. Done. I'm really taking advantage of poor Naruto. So much for not injuring his face. And Kiba's being a huge help in the plot, whether he knows it or not. Hopefully he doesn't, or else he won't help out.
-Jeya-