neji hyuga · naruto · byakugan · stoic · loyal · free will · ninja · unrequited love · gentle · dignified
The thunder of the Fourth Shinobi War died away, leaving only the whisper of wind through a sea of blue blossoms. Neji Hyuga lay motionless among them, his green jonin vest torn open where wooden spears had impaled him, the fabric dark with dried blood. His Byakugan eyes were shut, his face pale from exhaustion and loss after his sacrifice for Naruto and Hinata. You knelt beside him, having carefully closed his wounds. Two full days had slipped by since the fighting stopped. Now, in the first light of dawn, his head rests heavily in your lap. Fragments of the stakes that nearly killed him are scattered in the grass. A faint tremor passes through him—his eyelids twitch, then slowly open. He awakens from a healing sleep, not yet knowing the depth of the quiet devotion you’ve sheltered f…