Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lotus Blossom ❯ Chapter 11

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

(~~~ POV)

I was climbing to the rooftop, like I always do, to stare at the moon and stars. I stopped when I heard a beautiful voice singing. It was like the voice of an angel, and three girls that looked exactly like her.

*Shadow Clones.* I thought. I remained quiet as this lovely angel finished her song. The clones disappeared. And the girl seemed to have fallen asleep. It was getting cold out here and I could see her shiver slightly, but it didn't look like she had the energy to get up.

^Why do you care? Just kill her already! ~ The monster inside me told me.

*No. Not right now. This is neither the time nor the place for that.* I replied to it as I picked the girl up. I took her to my room,where my brother was asleep. I quietly laid her in my unused bed and sat down beside her, gently stroking her hair.

*This girl.....she sang about love. She loves someone, but they don't love her back......*

(Flashback)

I was on the rooftop of my home crying one night when I was six years old. Suddenly, my sand formed a shield behind me. I looked up to see a man wearing a mask with several kunai floating in front of him. He shot them all at, but my sand shielded me again. Then I started to use Sand Coffin, but it was to weak to kill him. I then noticed a cut on his finger, and I thought that I knew who he was. I cautious walked towards the barely conscious guy. I pulled his mask down and was shocked. It was my Uncle, who has been taking care of me.....the man who told me that he loved me....

Then he looked up at me and told me that he hated me....and that my mother gave me my name because it means 'a monster who only loves itself '. Then he blew himself up (again my sand protected me.) That was when I gave myself the love symbol on my forehead, to remember that day.

(End of flashback)

I look out the window to see that the sun is starting to come up and the girl beside me begins to stir. Her light blue eyes open and she scans the room, landing on me. She jumps up and opens her mouth to scream, but I put my hand on her mouth. She sits wide eyed at me.

"Go...go back to your team before they get up, and don't wake my brother." I tell her. She nods and quietly thanks me, climbing out of the window.

(Neji's POV)

I was just waking up, listening for any sounds from my teammates. Lee rushes in my room, looking worried.

"Neji! Akimi-chan isn't in her room!" He told me. I sat up and looked with my byakugans.

"Relax Lee, she's on the roof." I replied. He jumps out of my window and climb to the roof, with me following.

"What are you doing on the roof Akimi-chan?" Lee asked, I watched as Akimi stared out to the horizon, she seemed to be thinking. She looked up and smiled at us.

"Good morning Lee-kun, Neji-kun. I was just watching the sunrise." She replied.

"But, you weren't in your room at all, where were you?" He asked her. She looked surprised.........and a little............alarmed? She shook her head.

"I've been out here all night Lee-kun, I couldn't sleep so I came out here to relax."

"Have you been awake all night?" I asked her. "You look like you could use some rest."

"I have only slept a couple hours last night."

"Then get some rest, when you wake up we will have breakfast for you." Lee told her. She nodded and went into her room, Lee and I followed her. Lee left her room and I shut the door, I needed to talk to her.

"Does this have anything to do with Lee?" I asked her. She looked at me confused.

"What do you mean Neji?"

"When Lee said that he wanted to see 'that lovely' Sakura, you ran in here and locked the door. I saw you on your bed, heard your quiet sobs. I thought that might be the reason you couldn't sleep.” I told her. She shook her head.

"It has nothing to do with Lee. I just have had a lot on my mind, mostly these exams...I have a bad feeling about these exams..." She told, yawning. I started to walk out the door.

"Get some rest, Akimi." I told her. She nodded and laid down in her bed. I closed the door behind me and went into the living room to see Lee doing pushups using only his thumbs. He stopped and looked up at me.

"Is Akimi-chan ok?" he asked me, looking towards her door with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, she will be fine; she just needs to get some rest." I replied, leaving the suite to see if anyone else got here.

I looked around 1st floor and saw that the Sound guys got here, and there was also that rookie team with the kid that seemed to be obsessed with potato chips. I heard their conversation.

"Come on Choji! Stop eating for once! I want to see if MY Sasuke-kun is here yet! There is no way Billboard Brow is going to take him away from me!" The blond kunoichi said, hands held together to the side of her face like girls do when they talk about the guys they like. She sighed with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Man, this is such a drag. She has been talking about Sasuke for the past hour." The lazy boy stated in a bored voice. That Choji kid laughed. The girl hit him on the head.

"Ow Ino...not so hard." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his head where he was hit.

I left them and passed my cousins team. I stopped and hid as I heard Lady Hinatas quiet voice.

"I-I hope that Na-Naruto-kun makes it back safely." She stated, tapping her fingers nervously.

"Yeah, and why's that?" The boy with the dog asked. She looked up and took a sharp breath, as if the question had surprised her.

"W-well.....it would b-be nice if we all made it t-to the finals. A-all 9 of us." She replied, covering up the fact that she had a crush on him.

"The only one I want to see is Ino." Dog-boy said, drooling.

I thought about everything I knew about the crushes of the Leaf ninja in the exam....

* We have Hinata that likes Naruto. But Naruto likes Sakura...who in turn likes Sasuke. Then there is Kiba, who likes Ino, but she also likes Sasuke....And of course there is Akimi, who has a crush on Lee (though I really don't know why). But Lee is only interested in Sakura...This is more complicated then I thought.*

I walked back up to the suite my team and I were to stay for the next 3 days. I got up there to see Akimi talking to Lee as she worked on her water bending and air bending, pretty much the only things she could work on right now. Lee was grinning as he watched her train, then went on doing his pushups and sit-ups. They both looked over when the realized that I was back.

"What's up Neji?" Akimi asked me.

"Just checking things out. Almost all of the rookie teams have made it." I replied.

"Is Sakura-chan here?" Lee asked, excitedly and I watched Akimis face fall, unnoticed by Lee.

"No, her team hasn't made it here yet." I replied. Akimi looked a little relaxed, and she motioned for us to sit down. And she looked like she had something important for us to discuss.