Insomnia

II.

Lee was panicking. He couldn’t find Neji anywhere, not even in the mansion they were supposed to meet at. The girl at the door had told him Neji had never even shown up! He couldn’t go back to Konoha. It was two weeks away even with hard travel and Neji needed, or would need, help sooner than that. His only choice then was Sunagakure, three days from Taikyutsu running. The Taijutsu master took off then, determined to get his friend help. He could come to blame himself for leaving so brashly when Neji needed his help.

Neji, on the other hand, wasn’t sure if he was conscious or not. His body was on fire, aches and pains announcing their presence in horrible ways, and he felt horribly sick. He still hung, which wasn’t helping his broken ribs, and blood from his no doubt broken nose had dried on his face. After he’d fallen unconscious, he didn’t know what Hitatsu had done to him. He’d laid the trap well, Neji glumly thought. Using his brother’s relationship with Hiashi to get a Hyuuga there, believing Shimatsu was in danger. Capturing and unarming a ninja without warning, Hyuuga or not, was a difficult thing to do. Neji concluded he must not be paranoid enough yet. When he got out, he was going to demand a few years in ANBU so he could claim insanity when he did something stupid, like Kakashi.

He forced his eyes open to find that his situation had not changed. He still hung limply from the hook in the rope. His body still was battered and bruised, and he knew it wasn’t over yet. He held in the groan when he saw Hitatsu coming back into the room, grinning over at him, coming closer. Cool fingers slid over Neji’s heated face, stroking and soothing. Neji almost gave in, but he wanted his freedom more than going through with surrender.

Hitatsu ‘tsk’ed when Neji tried to refuse his proximity and turned away to pick up that long needle again. Clear liquid jumped from the metal tip, forcing air from the syringe. Neji could only watch helplessly as that needle pricked the soft skin of his throat. His breath caught as the liquid was forced into his bloodstream, monstrous cold defeating the heat that ravaged his body. His body was ice and to make everything worse, Hitatsu cut away his shirt, leaving his chest bare. Hot ink was scripted onto his pale skin then, scalding. Neji writhed, screaming, unable to make noise. Hitatsu continued, persisted, and all the ink was finally used up, Neji’s body scrawled with archaic runes and flowing script, his skin burned red and raw from the hot ink.

Hitatsu left him then, alone and hurting in the green-lit darkness. Neji let out a breath, tears sliding down his face from the intense pain, trying to breathe and failing. He cried, openly and without shame, just wanting to go home. He wondered where Lee was but decided he didn’t care. He wanted to go home. Neji cried himself to sleep, and by then, the ink had already begun to dry.


Lee counted the minutes, staring at the sun as it started to sink below the horizon. He’d reached Sunagakure within two and a half days and had spilled his guts to the council there in a plea for assistance to help him find Neji. The council had deliberated and had kicked him out of the room before he could finish his speech. Neji didn’t have the time to wait for the Suna council to allow Lee to lead some nin back to Taikyutsu to save him. Snarling quietly at the thought of his friend being hurt while he waited like a good little ninja, he couldn’t wait any longer and Lee left the council building before the council had reached a decision. He couldn’t wait any longer, not with Neji’s life on the line.

He sensed that he wasn’t alone when he reached Suna’s entrance, looking over into the raccoon-like eyes of Sunagakure’s Kazekage. Gaara said nothing to Lee, the two having never really truly liked each other since the last time they’d been side by side. Lee only nodded and took off, Gaara not far behind. When the council finally realized Gaara was missing, the pair had already crossed the sands, only a day away from Taikyutsu. Lee hoped they’d make it in time, because he didn’t want to rescue Neji as a corpse.

Taikyutsu loomed before them by dawn, Lee taking charge and guiding Gaara through the streets to the mansion he was supposed to meet Neji at. Like shadows, they were able to get inside and Lee claimed upstairs, leaving Gaara to explore downstairs. Gaara wasn’t even sure why he had followed the Taijutsu master on this rescue mission. He didn’t like either of them, really. But who could pass up a chance to rescue the stuck up Hyuuga brat? Gaara had to admit Neji was pretty, but that was where the admiration ended. Pretty things had a way of hurting their owners, and Gaara made a point of destroying things that hurt him. The only exception to the “pretty things must die” rule was his niece. Gaara shifted against the wall as a tapestry shifted aside, revealing a dull-eyed maid, carrying bloody towels, stepping from a concealed portal. Gaara’s eyes narrowed and as soon as the maid disappeared, Gaara moved for that door. It opened to a descending staircase, down into green-lit darkness. Gaara followed the staircase down, sandaled feet hitting concrete as silently as a stalking lion, coming closer to the back of a man he didn’t recognize.

The man’s gloved hands were covered in blood and soon Gaara could see why. Neji hung, like a gutted fish, from a hook near the center of the room. His pale skin was black and red, glistening with sweat and tears from what Gaara could see. Blood streamed freely from Neji’s forehead down his face, making him seem as though he had risen from the dead, a vengeful spirit. But Gaara knew better. Still, the scene disturbed him and he came closer, watching the man before Neji pick up a pristine white towel and scrape away the blood and blackness on Neji’s skin, leaving it only stained and pale. Neji’s eyes were closed, as though he was unconscious, but the slight flutter of his eyelids proved he wasn’t. Another clean towel was drawn over Neji’s face, before those bloody, gloved hands grabbed Neji’s chin, forcing the young man’s eyes open.

Gaara became aware of a frustrated scream and realized it was coming from Neji’s captor. The man was beating Neji, for what Gaara didn’t know, but Neji only coughed up blood when he was left alone, his captor whirling away, muttering to himself. Before he left the basement, the man grabbed Neji by his hair and jerked his head back, tongue touching the shell of Neji’s ear. Gaara bit back the snarl of disgust that this bastard thought he could take advantage of Neji, helpless as he was. When the bastard finally did leave, Gaara slipped up to Neji and held his arms up to him as he commanded his sand to untie him. Neji fell into his arms like a lifeless doll, what strength he had left leaving him as he clutched onto Gaara’s shoulders before he fell unconscious.

Shaking his head, Gaara lifted Neji into his arms and carried him from that horrible dungeon, escaping the mansion and making sure Neji would be safe as he went to retrieve Lee. Somehow, he convinced the Taijutsu master to make the trip back to Konoha to retrieve a healer while he took Neji to Suna. As he gazed down on the bloody and broken jounin in his arms, Gaara could only wonder what hell was going to come of this.