To My End | Neji x reader

||22||

Morning came pretty quick and we continued travelling.

A few more days and nights passed, almost every hour was filled with Kyohaku making snide remarks about Neji which lead to Neji getting irritated beyond repair. But he didn't act. Thank goodness.

Now, we're at the edge of the desert.

"If I'm remembering correctly, there shouldn't be any severe storms around this time of year, right?" I hummed as we pulled out cloaked and wrapped them around our shoulders and pulled our hoods up, ready to head into the sandy area.

"You're right," Kyohaku nodded, "and if there are any, they're probably just freak storms. They could appear at any time."

"Our luck won't be so bad that we'll have to suffer through one," Neji stated, "let's go. We're burning daylight standing around here."

"Right," I nodded before we began our trek through the deserts that I'd oh-so-missed.

°🧪°
An hour later_

"What's that over there?" Neji asked, squinting as he looked over to the east. I glanced over and looked forward again before quickly looking back.

"Damn. A sand storm," I sighed before looking around, "are there any shelter spots around here?"

"There should be one about ten minutes away," Kyohaku had a map in his hands (where the hell did that come from?) and pointed forward, "but that storm..."

"It'll hit us before we can reach the shelter," I sighed before pulling the collar of my cloak up and started walking, "Let's get moving. We need to move faster than we have so we can at least get closer and manage to move blind."

"I won't be blind," Neji stated, "I have my byakugan."

"Oh well we're not all Hyuga," I let out a small laugh.

"Then you can rely on my eyes," he hummed, obviously pleased that he was probably the only person who could see through the upcoming wall of sand.

"I don't want to rely on you," Kyohaku huffed, looking away and crossing his arms.

"So stubborn," Neji muttered to himself, shaking his head before sighing, "just walk. Stop lagging behind."

They bickered back and forth for about five minutes, I spent the whole time watching the sand storm coming at us faster than I expected.

"I'm eating sand, ugh-- why can't they set up shelter spots closer!" Kyohaku whined as he wiped sand off his lips.

"Can you just stop complaining for more than three seconds?" Neji asked.

Can they both be quiet?

They continued to argue as the sand storm slowly (but actually really quickly) hit us.

"Damn," I grit my teeth as I grabbed my hood and dragged it down, I couldn't see a thing so I didn't see the point in not dragging the hood so low that my eyes weren't visible. Not like I wasn't going to be walking blind anyway.

"Y/n!" Neji shouted from behind me, shout it sounded like he was barely saying anything. The wind was really strong and loud.

"Yeah?!" I shouted back, stopping just to have a form slam into my back.

"Ouch! Why'd you stop?!" Kyohaku yelled, grabbing the back of my cloak as Neji placed his hands on our shoulders.

"How far away is this shelter?!" Neji asked.

"Who knows?" Kyohaku basically screeched in my ear causing me to flinch away.

"Don't be so loud!" both me and Neji yelled down to him.

This situation is so not ideal. We can't see (well, me and Kyohaku can't) or hear each other well in this mess. Not to mention, this terrain... It'll be so easy to fall and get separated and none of us will know until we reach (if we reach) the shelter point that's somewhere around here.

"Neji, can you see?" I looked over to the male behind me, he closed his eyes and then opened them again, the weird effect the byakugan did to his face was visible.

"I can now," he confirmed, "let's take it slow and careful. I'll walk in front. You two just hold onto me."

"OK," both me and Kyohaku nodded before Neji passed me and I took Neji's hand while Kyohaku clung to the back of his cloak, finally letting go of mine and letting me have some breathing room from his incessant pulling.

We started to walk again.

The sand beneath our feet was too unstable to make me feel any reassurance even with Neji leading the way. Every time I took a step, I felt myself slipping down a bit.

Why couldn't the deserts weird weather just not happen right now?

Bad luck. That's what this is. Bad. Luck.

"It couldn't possibly get any worse than this, could it?" I heard Kyohaku say, though it sounded like a mutter which meant he wasn't really aiming for any of us to hear.

Don't say that! You'll make it worse!

Time passed and we all continued on in silence.

"I see it!" Neji announced loudly, "We're almost there."

Good.

I don't think my body can take this harshness much longer.

My chest was burning and my head hurt from the wind basically screaming in my ears.

"Y/n?" Neji stopped so I did too, he turned and placed a hand on my face, "are you OK? Your breathing is uneven."

How wouldn't my breathing be uneven in this kind of situation?!

"I'm fine," I sighed before turning, "we should be asking Kyohaku if he's OK. He's only a kid, after all. And he's not even a ninja."

"You're right," Neji nodded before I felt him freeze up.

"Neji?" I called for him, also turning slightly, despite the fact I couldn't see anything, "What's the matter?"

"Kyohaku... The brat isn't here," Neji announced.

What?!