Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lotus Blossom ❯ Chapter 4

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

(Neji's POV)

I watched as Akimi made her way past our Sensei, who was more than happy to see us.

"How did you guys do?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"We passed." I heard Akimi say, though she sounded much less than thrilled. To me, she sounded hurt, sad. She continued down the steps, leaving us behind.

"Why don't we go eat at Itamirasus Pork shop? My treat." Gai asked, still sounding happy that his team made it to round two. Akimi stopped for a moment as if to think.

"You guys go ahead. I have to train with my parents." She told us jumping to the first level. I watched her leave. *Lee, can't you see what you're doing to her?*

"What about you Neji?" Lee asked me. I glared at him.

"I have more important things to do." I told him coldly, following after Akimi. I ran to the front, but she was nowhere to be seen. I went home, worried about my teammate. *This is not going to end well, if this keeps going on.* I got home, and saw Hinata, my cousin who was part of the main branch of the clan.

"Hinata." I looked over at her, Akimi's friend. "Have you seen Akimi since she left?" I asked her. She glanced up at me and turned away slightly before answering.

"U-um. yes. I-I did. She ran from the building crying. I didn't see where she went, because as soon as she was out of the Academy, she transformed into air." She told me, sounding worried about her friend. "N-Neji-kun. What happened to her? W-Why is she upset?"

"I don't know. But I think it has something to do with Lee, but I'm not sure." I replied, retiring to my room to think.

(Akimis POV)

I ran out of the ninja school as fast as I could. As soon as I was outside I transformed into air and went to the hidden lake I secretly trained in. No one knew of this lake, it was on top of the Hokage mountain, hidden in the woods. I stared at my reflection, just thinking.

*Why does he have to fall for her? Is she more special then I am?* I looked at my reflection, and I could see Lee, I turned behind me and realized that my mind was playing tricks on me. I knew Lee was nowhere near me. But for some reason I couldn't help but feel like I was being followed. I pulled out some of my special origami paper and made tiny bugs with them, infusing them with my chakra with the creatures. I sent them out to find my stalker. I looked back at my reflection and saw an image dancing on the water, as if it was standing on the water like it was solid. The image was of Lee running to Sakura. Tears fell from my eyes as I gave an angry cry, forcing the water away from me in an angry wave of hatred towards that brat. I felt small footsteps behind me, so I turned around. I was surprised when one of my bugs brought back Kiro, my youngest brother, who was only 4.

"Kiro." I whispered softly. "What are you doing here?" I suddenly heard my mothers voice, calling for him.

"It's alright mom, Kiro is right here." I called back, my paper bugs leading her to me.

"Akimi, what are you doing here? I thought you had that Exam." She asked when she saw me staring at the lake.

"I did mom. We passed the first exam." I replied. She smiled, but stopped when she saw my expression in the water, like I was sad, like I had been crying.

"Akimi. What's wrong? You passed the Exam, you should be happy, not sad." She asked.

"I'm happy we passed the exam. But...." I trailed off unable to say anything more. Dad and Kito, my 5 year old brother found us.

"Hon, take the boys home, I'm going to talk to Akimi." Mom told him.

"Did she do something wrong?" My father asked. Mom shook her head and motioned him over. He saw my tear stained face and asked me the same thing mom did, but I couldn't answer. I just buried my head into my legs and jumped into the water, needing to cool myself off. I came back up to the surface.

"Akimi, talk to me. What's wrong with you?" Mom asked me.