Rahaizu Miyuki © Renata Satsuki

Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi

Ego Issues

A story for Renata Satsuki

By Bella Lamounier

It has been said that excessive pride can lead a person into trouble.

Hyuuga Neji would be the first person to say that, if the consequences of his own pride on a certain sunny day were trouble, then he’d welcome them at any time.

But let’s start this story from the beginning.

Neji was walking back from his daily training, pressing a towel to his damp face, when he heard a rather strident voice calling him.

“Hey, Neji!” Damn. It was Naruto. His steps turned into strides as he pretended not to hear the shinobi, but he soon caught up to him, making him turn slightly in his direction. “Hey, didn’t you hear me?” Naruto said, smiling brightly.

“Naruto.” So much for trying to avoid the noisy fox. “What is it? I’m busy.”

“Well, okay then. We,” he pointed to the group of guys a few feet ahead of them, under the shadow of a tree. “thought that you would like to see something we managed to borrow from the girls, but if you’re busy…” His smile turned foxily, as if he knew that his words would make Neji curious.

“Say what you mean.” The Hyuuga ninja demanded, now turning completely to face Naruto.

“Well, we heard this rumor that the girls had organized a voting for the most handsome shinobi in Konoha! So we used our ninja skills and got the list of the results from Ino’s place.” Naruto sounded really proud of their success in stealing the girl’s list. Neji wasn’t even sure if he wanted to see something so silly. But… Did Miyuki vote too?

“What does that have to do with me?” He asked anyway.

“Well, I know you’re ugly and all, but every guy is a potential candidate and…” The murderous look on Neji’s face made Naruto stop talking. He laughed nervously. “Hehe. Well. You know what I mean.”

“Why can’t you just tell me the results, if you’re so interest in my knowing it?” Neji asked, annoyed, while his white, attentive eyes watched Naruto warily.

“Because we haven’t opened the envelope yet, duh!” Naruto answered, as if it were obvious. “So, wanna see it?”

Since today I feel really generous, I’ll go. But only so Naruto won’t annoy me with his crying and insisting. Yeah, that was the only reason.

“Hm. Yeah. Whatever.” He followed the blond boy to the group. Uchiha Sasuke was leaning against the tree with his arms crossed over his chest, looking as if he had been dragged there against his will.

“Hyuuga. I didn’t know you were interested in this kind of thing.” Sasuke said mockingly.

“I could say the same about you, Uchiha.” Neji countered with an arched eyebrow. Sasuke looked as if he would say something, but Naruto beat him to it.

“So, guys, here we are! In a few moments, we will enter an unknown world; explore the depths of the feminine mind. Be careful, for this is a dangerous journey…”

“Get along with it, Naruto!” Shikamaru said. “This is getting troublesome.”

“Yeah. I’m getting hungry here!” Chouji complained.

“When aren’t you hungry?” Sasuke said under his breath.

“Just tell us the results.” Kiba demanded, distractedly caressing Akamaru’s fur.

“Naruto can get really dramatic when he gets excited.” Shino commented.

“He’s just a hyperactive dobe.” Sasuke answered.

“Hey!” Naruto complained, glaring at Sasuke.

“I was enjoying the mystery. What’s wrong with it?” Lee asked, confused.

Neji was getting really impatient now.

“That’s it. I’m out of here.” He turned to leave, but stopped when Naruto sighed.

“Alright. I’ll just open it. You guys are no fun at all!”

Only Sasuke and Neji remained where they were. All of the other guys crowded around him, trying to see the piece of paper that he took out of the envelope. But Naruto was very careful to hide it, so he could at least make a little suspense there.

“I present…” He lifted the paper as if it were the crucial piece of evidence that would solve an important mystery. “…The list.”

Shikamaru pulled it out of his hand and read it.

“Fifth? Well, that’s not so bad. Who is on firs…? Wha…? Haha. This is going to get fun.”

“What are you talking about?” Kiba looked over Shikamaru’s shoulder. “Ah. I see what you mean.”

“Hey, Neji. Sasuke. I think you’ll want to see this.” Naruto said, unable to control his foxy smile.

They approached warily. Neji glanced at Sasuke and met his gaze before turning back to Shikamaru. He took the paper out of the boy’s hand and looked at it, reading it from bottom to top.

5th: Nara Shikamaru…

4th: Uzumaki Naruto…

3rd: Inuzuka Kiba…

2nd: …

Huh?

“Well, it looks like I beat you. Again. This is stupid. What’s the surprise?” Sasuke commented with an arrogant smirk on his face as he walked away.

…Hyuuga Neji.

1st: Uchiha Sasuke.

How could that be?

OoOoOoOoO

When Rahaizu Miyuki woke up that morning, she thought it would be a usual training day.

Se didn’t know how wrong she was.

Miyuki started with a light exercise to warm up, throwing several kunais at a tree in a fast succession.

One, two, tree…

In that moment, she sensed a presence behind her. For any untrained person, the presence would go unnoticed, but Miyuki had been trained well. And she was very good at sensing that particular individual.

She turned so fast that only a skilled ninja could have foreseen her next move. She threw a kunai at the person, but the boy caught it skillfully between his index fingers.

“Well, you are awfully good at that, huh? Guess I’ll have to improve my kunai-throwing abilities.” She joked, putting her hand on her hip with a smirk, throwing her head to the side so her silver bangs would stay off her face. But Neji didn’t smile back. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” He answered. The look on her gray eyes was skeptical.

“Well, if it’s nothing, you won’t care if I go back to training, will you?” She said, turning her back on him. But before she could start throwing kunais again, he sighed and stepped closer.

“What do you think about me?” Neji asked while still he had the guts to.

“What do you mean?” She asked distractedly, not even looking at him. “As in your personality?”

“I mean in a physical way.” He cleared up. Blushing, she turned to look at him and gave him her full attention.

“What brought this up?”

“Just answer the question.” He demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well…” She started, putting her hand on her chin and observing him, even going around him. Neji was starting to get really impatient. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“How about the truth?” He suggested, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, if you insist. You have a nice body, thanks to all that training you do. I really like your hair, too. And your Hyuuga genes did give you some good features.” His ego, which had become considerably low earlier that day, was starting to swell up again. “I’d say your looks are somewhat pleasant.” So much for giving his hurt ego a treat.

“Somewhat pleasant?” He couldn’t believe it. She almost couldn’t hold her smile.

“Yes. You’re not horribly disfigured or anything, don’t worry.” She turned her back on him again and smiled when he couldn’t see her face. That had gone perfectly. Now wait three, two, one…

“You can’t mean that. How can you be with me and think my looks are somewhat pleasant?” He sounded really taken aback by her remark.

“Well, nobody is perfect, you know?” She answered, throwing another kunai and trying not to laugh. “For example, your kiss is somewhat acceptable, but I truly believe you can improve that.”

Now Miyuki had gone too far.

Neji moved so quickly she only saw him when he was right in front of her.

“Somewhat pleasant? Somewhat acceptable? I’ll show you.” Oh, and show her, he did.

He pulled her against his chest and kissed her senses right out of her. Miyuki leaned against him, sighing against his lips.

Not that her legs would have worked had she tried to walk away, anyway.

His body felt like it was on fire and she welcomed the warmth like a naked person in the middle of South Pole.

Damn, what’s he doingShe wondered absently when his lips lowered to her neck and his arms tightened around her body. Not that she minded.

She didn’t mind. At all.

After what it felt like hours, he leaned his head back without releasing her and smirked.

“Acceptable?” He asked.

“Well, I’d say that was more than acceptable.” She said, putting a hand on her pink face.

“I bet a ‘somewhat pleasant’-looking guy wouldn’t be able to do that.” He really was fishing for compliments. She could as well humor him, then.

“He probably wouldn’t. But it’s really easy to tease you, though.” She smirked.

“I take it you voted for me, then?” And that was the question he really wanted to ask.

“Vote…? What do you mean?” What, was she for real? She really didn’t know what he was talking about?

“I mean that ‘The Most Handsome Shinobi in Konoha’ thing.” He answered impatiently. “Did you vote for me or not?”

“Oh, so that is what brought this whole crisis up?” He didn’t say anything, only looked at her blankly. “Well, of course I voted for you. What did you think? If I voted for Sasuke, Sakura would kill me.” She joked.

His pulling her to him and kissing her was all the assurance she needed to assume that it was the right thing to say.

Excessive pride is not such a bad thing after all.

OoOoOoOoO

Neji and Miyuki were walking to Ichiraku, side by side, their hands brushing occasionally.

“Hey, Hyuuga!” They turned and saw Sasuke walking up to them with a smirk. “You’re not worked up because of a silly contest, are you?”

“What made you think that, Uchiha? My girl voted for me, anyway. Do you even know who Haruno voted for?” Neji threw back with another smirk. He held Miyuki’s hand and walked away.

Sasuke hadn’t thought about that.

Ha. Take that, Uchiha.

And the score was tied again.

OoOoOoOoO

This is a birthday present for my friend, Renata Satsuki!!! She loves Neji as much as I love Sasuke xDDD

Renata, happy birthday!!!! I can’t give you a drawing to drool over, like you give me, but I can make you laugh, huh? xD I hope you liked it. (Neji is ‘good quality’, right? xDDDD I bet you would smack his butt xD)

(note: Renata is writing a SasuSaku sequel xD Check it out in her DA profile soon. renata-satsuki . deviantart . com )

Kisses!!

Bella

EDIT: This is a message for the stupid person who identified herself as "me". Yes, I deleted your flame. You obviously can't read well if you didn't see the "NejiOC" warning in the summary. I didn't ask anybody to read the fanfiction if they didn't like OC's. And don't talk about something you don't even understand. You don't have enough information on the character to call her a Mary-Sue.

I only had to say this here because you didn't have the guts to say who you are. If you can't identify yourself before flaming me, then refrain from doing it. Next time you want to argue about the quality of my story or my friend's character, be brave enough to leave a signed review or an e-mail address, okay? Otherwise, I won't bother with you again. I'll just delete it and ignore you.

(But before that, please learn how to speak English. It hurts my eyes to read things like 'reli'.)