𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐧𝐞𝐣𝐢 𝐡.

𝟱 ❤︎

chapter five ;; reason for hate

❝ Your senses were so bad that you couldn't even notice him. Are you dense, Neji? ❞

"What do you mean?" You narrowed your eyebrows.

"I mean exactly what I asked. Why do you hate me?" He repeated his question.

"Why do I hate you?" You let out a scoffed laugh. "Oh, don't even get me started, Hyuga. You won't like it."

"Just tell me. I don't care how harsh you think it is, tell me."

"Why do you wanna know so bad?"

"...I wanna change."

You sighed. "Fine. For one, you're too cocky. You swear you're better than everyone and that seriously pisses me off."

"...Next."

"Hinata does everything she can to care for you, and to build a relationship between you two. What do you do in return? Beat her around, insult her, ignore her. Just because she's in the head family doesn't give you the right to act the way you do towards her. You can't bully her over a grudge you had with your father. Hinata wasn't even involved with—."

"I know that. This family matter is none of your concern, though."

"Fine. Besides that, you put your pride before anything else."

"...I know."

"All of those are reasons why Naruto won against you. Fighting isn't all about strength. And y'know when people put their pride first, it often means they're insecure."

"I'm not... insecure."

"Are you, Neji? Are you as confident inside as you show, or are you just faking to look cool? Do you ever doubt yourself? Do you sometimes think you're not strong enough?"

"Just move on to the next reasons, please."

"The way you were so hooked on destiny and fate, you use my past to insult me, you hit me around like I'm trash, you degrade me until you get bored, you tell me I'll never reach my goals..."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head.

"You hit me because I was weak and 'unable to reach my goals', but happened? I'm a chūnin and you're not. How does that make you feel, Hyuga?"

He stayed quiet.

"Answer me! When you hit me around, what was that for? You did it just to tell me I'd never become what I desire to be?! At that time, something I desired to be was a chūnin. So, look where I am and look where you are." You gritted your teeth, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"Well, I would've been a chūnin if he didn't pull that trick on me!"

"Well, he did. Your senses were so bad that you couldn't even notice him. Are you dense, Neji?"

He removed your hands and laid back on the bed. "Okay—, you can stop now."

"What if I don't wanna stop?" You questioned. "Remember all of those times I begged you to just leave me alone, but you only laughed at me?"

He wanted to respond, but he wasn't sure what to say.

"I'm a changed person, now. Naruto made me realize that."

"If you're a changed person, you would have apologized by now."

He stared at the ceiling. "Sorry."

"Wow, Neji. That was a very genuine apology."

"Fine. I'm sorry for everything I've done. Please forgive me."

"Whatever. It's like you don't know how to apologize—, but I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. I'll never believe you've changed until I see it anyway. A simple apology doesn't mean anything."

"You'll see, then." He pulled the blanket over his face.

"I guess I will." You responded. The two of you stayed in an awkward silence. Neji didn't move once and you continuously shifted awkwardly.

You thought he fell asleep until you heard him say something.

"What are you doing in here? You already teased me and you already said why you hated me. What now? You're just standing there awkwardly in silence. At least say something."

"I'll leave." You turned on your heels, your hand touching the doorknob.

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble. Somewhat like an earthquake but not exactly.

"What the hell was that?" You ran towards the window, only to see smoke.

When it'd began to clear, you noticed everyone asleep. Neji sat up and activated his Byakugan to see clearer, where he saw people like Kakashi and Hiashi fighting off people.

"Lord Hiashi is out there." He pointed, even though you couldn't see. You squinted your eyes.

"What're we supposed to do?"

"Everyone is under genjutsu— or some type of sleeping fumes. I'll go to Lord Hiashi, and you can release all of the relevant people from genjutsu since you know how to do it."

You nodded and the both of you hurried out of the hospital room in different directions. You looked back to see Neji out of sight, once you turned around you bumped into someone.

"Sorry, I was—" You looked at their headband. It was a sound ninja. You took two steps back as the ninja grabbed you by your neck. He lifted you up so he could take a better look at you.

"Mm. You're that girl who beat that guy and had to get sedated." He chuckled. "You seem pretty weak up close, though."

You put your hands on his and tried to get them off. You couldn't breathe from the amount of pressure he had on your neck, and you could barely fight back from the medicine slowing you down.

You allowed your hands to fall to your legs, but the idea of grabbing a kunai from your pouch came to mind. You did so, stabbing it into his wrist as hard as you could.

You could feel his grasp loosen a bit from the sudden pain, which made you get at least a small breath of air in before he tightened his grip again.

"Did you think that'd work? Nice try, but you—."

His grip on your neck loosened once again, but this time, it was for good. He dropped you on the ground and fell face first. You panted, seeing who exactly saved you.

Neji placed his foot on the man's back and crossed his arms.

"Keep your filthy hands off her."