Three
Sasuke and Neji don't really get along. There's tension between the two of them that belays history and lineage. He's a Hyuga. Sasuke's an Uchiha. The two clans were the cornerstones of the Leaf Village.
Used to be, at least.
The last of the Uchiha–the sole survivor, the avenger–gifted, yes, but not a genius. Orochimaru pits them together often. He wants Sasuke to be stronger; Neji wants to be free. So for the next few years–until he's satisfied with Sasuke's growth–Neji is to be his sparring partner.
The winters are long. The disgraced Hyuga listens to the way the snow packs down against the butt of his heel, each crunch mottled by the frigid air's suppression. The four of them–Kabuto, Orochimaru, Sasuke and himself–move like wraiths through the forest, flitting from one frozen branch to the next. Icicles swing, wind chimes in the midday mist of snow. Their next base will keep them sheltered until the thaw hits the uppermost corners of the Five Nations.
Neji, almost as always, takes up the rear of their entourage. His Byakugan grants him a unique scope of the surroundings, one that not even the Snake Sannin's uncanny senses can hope to replicate. He sees the greed that lashes Orochimaru's long tongue whenever Neji displays his prowess. He knows, as any Hyuga would, how coveted the secrets of his Kekkei Genkai are. The birthright of his clan, the eyes that see all…if Orochimaru had not fixated on Sasuke prior to Neji's arrival, the roles of the two could very well have been switched. Whether Neji likes it or not he is indebted to Sasuke for that. The very man who loathes him is the very man who keeps the snake and his vile assistant from prying Neji's eyes out of their sockets.
That doesn't mean Neji feels any true debt to Sasuke. If anything, the fact that he's expected to play the glorified trainer for the prodigious Uchiha is enough for Neji to consider them even. He tells himself that things will go easier if he keeps his guard up and keeps the red-eyed ninja at arm's length. He tells himself, that as long as Sasuke doesn't ask about Neji, he sure as hell won't bother learning about him in turn.
That winter, after training, Neji stumbles across Sasuke glaring at the sun.
In the spring he watches the Uchiha pause to glance at the bridge across the banks from them, cutting through the Land of Mist.
Summer. Sasuke groans about the heat. Neji tells him to sit in the shade if it bothers him that much. "Shut up, idiot–" Sasuke freezes.
Neji doesn't see Sasuke for weeks after that. When he shows up again, the summer cooling off into a crisp autumn, he's like a blank slate.
The seasons pass. Sasuke doesn't react. When they train Sasuke can sense that fire; beyond that, it's as if he's become a husk of himself. Neji doesn't care.
Neji shouldn't care.
…But of course, he does. Two years spent with nothing but the three of them, training with Sasuke, holding back bated breath every time they encounter other people. Some unspoken fear about being found and bent back into submission fuels every punch, every kick. Over the years he hits harder, strikes quicker; a desperate urge to make Sasuke feel something.
An urge to feel something of his own.
Two and a half years. A little over nine hundred days–a little over nine hundred words exchanged between the two of them throughout all their time together.
And when Orochimaru looked at Neji–a glint in his eyes, something that reflected intent he couldn't quite name–the Hyuga almost wished that Sasuke would add another.
But he didn't. So the snake broke the seal, and wordlessly, Neji left.
A/N:
Why did this almost become a SasuNeji fic there for a second LMFAO