To My End | Neji x reader

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When I woke up, a burning sensation spread through my chest and I ended up just sitting still for about an hour before I finally managed to push myself out and force myself to start the day.

"You're awake. Good," Yohei greeted me as I walked downstairs, "I got word from the hidden leaf. It's just as we suspected. Tsunade has returned to become Hokage and we have been called back."

"Why have we been called back?" I asked, leaning on the wall, not wanting to sit down just in case I couldn't get up again.

"Because new Hokage and things in terms of relations between the leaf and sand are a bit," he hummed, searching for a word, "shaky?"

"Makes sense," I nodded, "then when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow," he replied, "we have to travel at your pace so it'll take double the time to get there."

"I'm sorry," I apologised looking down. I'm just being a burden again. It seems that my fate is to forever get in other people's way.

"It's not your fault," he smiled gently, "so don't apologise. And hey, when we get to the hidden leaf, I'll demand that Tsunade look at the poison. I know the ninja here have said it's morphed into something completely new and destructive but I think that if anyone can figure it out, it's the genius healer sannin."

"I hope you're right," I nodded, "so tomorrow starts our six day journey?"

"Six days, huh?" Yohei visibly flinched, "sounds like one hell of a camping trip."

Usually it would take ninja three days to travel between the hidden leaf and the hidden sand. Sometimes just less than three days if they don't sleep and somehow keep themselves moving without taking any breaks. So I guess this extra time is probably irritating for my uncle who's a jounin ninja from the hidden leaf with a kekkei genkai that could rival even the uchiha and hyuga.

I really am just a burden.

Sighing, I looked away before looking forward again as I heard the clinking of my katanas.

"You'll need these again," he passed me my sheathed blades, "you have my permission to train again since you've stopped coughing blood, thankfully. Just don't overdo it."

"Thank you, uncle," I smiled before putting my blades where they belong, pinned to the back of my bottoms. Instantly I felt a lot more relaxed knowing that I had them again.

"Yeah yeah. I'll be in the council all day working on the last of my paperwork so I'll see you later," he told me, "remember. Don't overdo it."

"Yeah, I got it," I nodded before turning, "see you later~"

"I'm serious!" Yohei shouted as I jogged out the house.

He's 'serious', guess I gotta actually be careful.

"Y/n!" a voice shouted, I looked up to see Kankuro, "ah, you got your blades back. You up for some sparring?"

"When am I not?" I asked as he jumped off the roof he was stood on and landed next to me.

"When your blades of confiscated," he whistled. I frowned and looked away.

"It's not like I do anything wrong," I huffed, "my body just hates me."

"Yeah, it definitely does," he agreed.

"You're not supposed to agree."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Really."

"Then, y/n, my friend. I'm sure your body is only weak to the ever mutating poison because it loves you," Kankuro dramatically bowed.

"Yeah. I preferred you agreeing to me," I shook my head and sighed before we reached the training ground to see Temari blowing a bunch of rock towers away, "Morning, Temari."

"Oh! Y/n, morning," she grinned, "katanas? Finally allowed to let lose?"

"For now," I nodded, "shall we have some fun?"

"We shall," she agreed before we all got into a fighting stance, "this is going to be interesting. Let's see if y/n has gotten a bit slow during her mandatory no training."

"I never get slow," I reminded her before we began to spar.

°🧪°

"OK," Kankuro dropped down on the floor, "you win, y/n. I'm beat."

"Me... Me too," Temari leaned against a wall and sighed, "no more. Please."

"Alright," I nodded before letting out a heavy breath, the burning in my chest just increased and I winced slightly before steadying out my breathing, "anyway. I have to tell you guys something."

They both shot my curious looks as they tried to cool down.

"Me and Uncle Yohei are leaving tomorrow," I told them. They stared at me for a moment, the clear look of slowly registering the information appeared on their faces.

"What?! Why?!" they both finally registered and shouted, now seemingly over their exercise induced exhaustion.

"Because the leaf wants us back home," I replied, "the relations between our villages are more than a little shaky."

"That's true," Temari looked down with a sigh, "damn. I definitely wouldn't have agreed to this if I knew it'd end up with you having to travel all the way back to the leaf in your condition."

"Hey now," I grinned, "I'm stronger than I look."

"Uh-huh, says the girl who, if trains for more than two hours, is instantly out of commission for at least three days," Kankuro pointed out.

"Yeah well... Its not like I wanted this to happen," I grumbled, "it just did, OK?"

They both looked down and sighed.

"Sorry," they apologised.

"I didn't mean it to sound like you're weak," Kankuro said.

"We're just worried," Temari added on.

"Yeah. I understand," I nodded, "but... You have other things to worry about now. Let me remove myself from the list."

"Y/n... You don't need to remove yourself from any list," Kankuro huffed, "worrying about you is our job. We're your older siblings after all."

"Self proclaimed," I corrected before smiling, "I promise, nothing will happen."

"If you die, I'll kill you," Temari punched me in the shoulder, "and as soon as we're stable, I'll come visit."

"Don't come see me until Gaara is on the Kazekage seat," I told her.

She gave me a surprised look.

"You've changed your mind," she stated, "you were scared of him before but now... You really have changed your mind. See? I told you he's changed."

"I realised that he did and if he can change then my opinion of him can change too," I replied, "though it sounds really shallow of me to say that out loud but truthfully, I think whatever happened in the leaf village really changed him for the better."

"You're right," Kankuro nodded, "and, although, I'm still pretty weird about it myself. I think Gaara is a lot happier now than he was before."

"Wasn't that obvious?" Temari shot her brother a weird look before sighing, "anyway, I'm going to die if I don't eat. Let's go~"