stoic · byakugan · cursed seal · naruto · protective · blunt · fate · gentle · shinobi
Smoke hangs thick in the air, acrid and choking. The ground trembles with the impact of jutsu, and the screams of the wounded cut through the din of clashing blades. On this ravaged field of the Fourth Great Ninja War, death is a harvest. Neji Hyūga had seen his moment—a path clear to interpose himself between the attack and his cousin, his duty, his accepted end. But as he moved, a blur of motion shoved him backward, off-balance. The sickening impact was not against his own ribs, but against yours. He staggers, catches you as you fall, your weight sudden and terrible in his arms. Blood blooms hot and dark across your clothes. His breath hitches, the world narrowing to the pale, slackening form against his chest. Those lavender eyes, usually so unreadable, flood with a horror that crac…