Neji x OC [Chapter 4/?] “Caged Birds”
---------------------------------------
Tadashi watched carefully, leaning forward in shock as the final punch was landed. Naruto sprung from the ground mid-Neji-lecture, punching Neji square in the jaw in a bait and switch that no one expected. Naruto stood over his opponent, victorious over both Neji and his fatalistic philosophies. Tadashi watched in shock as Neji was taken by stretcher off of the Examination Court. She couldn’t believe the match she had watched. Her mouth hung open in disbelief. Neji... lost?
Tadashi held herself, shivering in the stands as she thought of the information Neji had shared with the crowd. The knowledge of the Hyuga’s cursed seal wasn’t something Tadashi had ever expected him to reveal. She didn’t know... she didn’t know the secret that Neji was hiding behind his Hitai-ate. She felt sick.
Tadashi stood suddenly, making her way towards the aisle.
“Where are you going?” Kaito asked from beside her.
“Yeah, the main event hasn’t even started yet!” Kyo added from her other side.
“I... I have to go,” Tadashi excused herself as she pushed through the row, groans of protest rising from the people she passed. For her, the main event was over.
Tadashi bolted down the stairs, turning down a hall that she knew would eventually lead her to the infirmary. She walked cautiously down the long cement hallway, peaking through the small, rectangular windows in each of the doors.
Finally, she came upon the closed door to the infirmary, but unfortunately, someone had already beat her there. Tadashi peered through the window, noticing a relative of Neji’s was speaking with him. Tadashi slid to the side, hiding herself behind a wall. She waited. Three minutes passed. Then five. Finally, the man, who bore such a striking resemblance to Neji it could only be his uncle, left. But she wasn’t hidden completely. The older Hyuga man turned to her, looking more curious than anything as his eyes locked on her own. Tadashi froze, pinned to the wall in his white-eyed gaze. She pressed herself closer to the wall, as if she could somehow make herself blend into the concrete surface. If Tadashi were being honest, she’d realize that this man scared her. Really scared her. His aura, his eyes, the way he held himself, he was just like her grandfather.
“You might want to wait a moment before going in,” he said, his voice was much gentler than she had expected. She gulped, and then nodded, glued in spot as she watched the Hyuga man walk back towards the stairs. Tadashi waited for a long few minutes, unaware of the atmosphere she was walking into. Finally, with an anxious sigh, Tadashi entered.
Neji stood far across the room, staring out of the one of the small windows that allowed a small streams of daylight in. Tadashi tried to see what he was looking at, but from her angle all she could see was the sky. She cleared her throat loudly, closing the door behind her.
Neji didn’t so much as jump, but turned quickly, eyes widening slightly in surprise. Had she actually caught him off guard?
“What are you doing here?” Neji asked, skipping over the pleasantries.
“I-” what was Tadashi doing here? “I watched your match,”
“And I’m sorry,” Tadashi blurted, clumsily, “I’m sorry I didn’t know where your anger was coming from,”
Neji’s mouth hung open slightly, but Tadashi pushed on before he could yell at her.
“I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time at the academy,” Tadashi confessed, guilt and sadness taking her over. She certainly hadn’t meant to make anyone’s life harder. Tadashi’s intention had always been justice, but there was a fire there that she had unknowingly been throwing fuel onto for years.
Neji stared at her for a terrifyingly long moment, before closing his eyes to take a deep breath. Today was full of surprises for him. Still depleted of chakra, Neji leaned against the wall with a grimace. When he looked back on his time at the academy, and after, his attitude had always been that of jaded disillusionment that started the day his father died. Neji had become a cold, closed off person who hid behind the ideas of brutal honesty and fatalism to get away with being cruel. Some of his ugliest moments had provoked Tadashi’s fury. He had never felt guilty, sharing his frank opinions. Not until Naruto.
“Maybe I deserved it,” he said to her with a chuckle, “sometimes,”
“Sure,” Tadashi said, falling back on her teasing nature. She felt lighter somehow, her anger for Neji dissolving slowly as they spoke. “Only sometimes,”
“What about you?” he asked.
“T-Tadashi,” Neji stumbled over her first name, realizing this was probably the first time he’d said it. Neji watched a pink blush crawl over Tadashi’s face, likely due to the name slip. “You just watched me air my family’s most shameful secret in front of the entire village,” he groaned, walking painfully towards the hospital bed. Tadashi jumped forward, grasping one of his arms with both of hers. Neji shirked away from the contact, but reluctantly let it happen as his chakra reserves were still depleted. His muscles screamed as she helped him hoist himself onto the bed.
“Are you okay?” She asked, assisting him into a sitting position.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “Could you get me some water?”
Tadashi moved to the other side of the infirmary, where there was a sink and a stack of small paper cups. She filled one of the cups with water and brought it over to Neji, who took the cup gratefully.
Neji gulped down the water before handing the cup back to her. She walked back to the sink.
“So why are you so ready to deal out justice?” Neji asked as she refilled the cup and brought it over to him.
“I’m not,” Tadashi glided over the question without hesitation.
“Well,” Neji took another sip of water, “That’s not true. Whether you admit it or not, you’re angry too,” the evidence hung in the air, unsaid but felt between the rivals. That’s why I trigger you-or maybe-that’s why you trigger me.
Tadashi remained quiet, chewing on her lower-lip as anxiety sent pin-pricks up the back of her neck. She leaned on the wall beside the hospital bed, arms crossed. She had never been the kind of girl to monologue along at any stranger who would listen. But Neji wasn’t a stranger, exactly.
“My family’s really traditional, too,” Tadashi said, with a shrug. “Nothing as... extreme as your clan, but some things remain the same,” she said, her gaze making it’s way to the ceiling light. She stared until it hurt. “My family comes from a large territory to the West of here, the Land of Yin. My branch of the Family has always been responsible for the Political Liaisons between Konoha and our land.” she explained.
“In other words one day when my grandfather is gone, I’ll be expected to end my career as a shinobi and take up his political position. My whole future was planned out before I was even born,” she muttered that last part under her breath, but Neji caught it. Tadashi could feel a deep, dark emptiness throb in her chest. “I don’t come from a shinobi family, but being a ninja has been my only freedom,” She wondered, was she trapped as well?
Neji took another sip of his water, closing his eyes in thought.
“Maybe we can change our destinies,” He offered, answering her unspoken question.
“Do you really think that?” Tadashi examined Neji’s eyes. Neji spoke confidence into everything he said, a finalizing clip to the end of his sentences that said ‘don’t fight me on this’. This time his tone was dreamy, and confused. Maybe he had a concussion from that final punch to the jaw. Did he hit his head on the way down?
“If Naruto can, then why can’t we?”
---------------------------------------------------------
Ahhh finally a wholesome scene between these two kids. This chapter took me so long to write, mostly because I went back to re-watch the Chuunin exams Arc.
Also Tadashi’s family’s name is Akechi and she’s a Scorpio.