Thawing an Icy Heart

The Vows.

"Would Neji and Hinata Hyuga, please make their way down to my position." Neji looked visibly irritated that he had to fight Hinata, but he jumped down first and his gaze looked up at Hinata, who was surrounded by her teammates. "Do your best Hinata, make sure you show him, that you're not as weak as he thinks you are." Taka placed his hand on her shoulder, as did Shino on her other shoulder. The two of them giving her the encouragement she needed, as she then hopped down, to face her family member.

"So the coward decides to actually fight, you know it's pointless right? You can't, nor will you ever be able to defeat me Hinata." Neji spoke in an almost cocksure manner, as he settled into the Hyuga fighting pose, activating his Byakugan in the process. "Ignore that idiot Hinata!" Both Naruto and Taka shouted down, before turning to look at each other with almost goofy smiles. Great minds think alike apparently. They then turned their attention back to the fight below. "We believe in you Hinata, and we know you can beat that idiot!" Naruto and Taka shouted down, as they both threw their fists out to her.

Her face turned crimson, as the two boys she respected most gave her the encouragement she needed, in light of Neji's words. Hinata then settled down into the Hyuga fighting stance, and activated her own Byakugan. "I'm ready for you Brother Neji!" She said with confidence, as Neji looked at the two boys, and then her in disgust. "Very well, I won't take responsibility for what I do to you Hinata." Then the fighting began in earnest, both blocking each other's blows with ease, then Hinata thought she had seen an opening and went for a potentially match winning strike.....but she missed by the barest of margins. Which infuriated Neji further, how dare she get that close!

The two them went back to trading blows again, everyone watching on with interest. Until Neji broke through Hinata's defences, and slammed his palm into her chest. Which caused her a great deal of internal damage, not that anyone saw that, but they did see blood escape her lips, as she reacted to the blow she took. Then Neji took control, slamming his fingers into her arm, rendering it useless, and then he slammed his palm into her chest again. Causing her to fall onto her back. Taka hopped up onto the barrier to jump down and protect his teammate, but he was grabbed by not only Kurenai but Kakashi as well.

"Let go.....or you'll suffer, like those men Kakashi." He turned his head to face the copy ninja, tears in his eyes at his friends suffering. Yet he then saw her climb back up off the floor, and face Neji again. "K-Kakashi....he's gonna kill her, I need to stop this!" He would've activated his Kekkei Genkai, but Kakashi had slipped a sealing Jutsu onto his hand, rendering that particularly violent Jutsu null and void. "You!" Taka tried yanking his grip free from Kakashi, as he watched with wide eyes, as Neji came charging forward to finish Hinata off. Naruto was watching all this, but was frozen in place. He didn't know what to do, and not would his body respond.

Just before Neji made his fatal strike, Kakashi released Taka, and along with his fellow Jonin, managed to grapple and hold Neji back before that fatal strike. But then Hinat collapsed, and all time froze for Taka and Naruto. They hopped down, wanting to help their friend and teammate but were stopped by the other Jonin, as they tended to the fallen Hinata. They all breathed a sigh of relief, as Hinata was eventually revived. But as Neji was about to leave, both Taka and Naruto turned towards him. "Hey asshole!" Taka shot his mouth, as Neji turned to face them both. "I don't care if it's me, or Naruto, but we're gonna put you in your place. I swear it, on the blood of Hinata that you spilled!" Both Taka and Naruto had the blood of Hinata squeezed tightly into their fists, as they stared down Neji. "Believe it!" Naruto shouted out, as he and Taka stood side by side. "Hmph, you're both beneath me. You can't hope to change destiny, and I'll be sure to prove it to the both of you!"

With that the boys separated, and went back up to the balcony. "Will she be ok Sensei?" Taka spoke, as he looked up to Kurenai, who had just arrived back up to the balcony with her Genin. "She'll be fine, you and Naruto have given her the strength to carry on, and to show her family she's better than they think."

"Would Gaara, and Rock Lee make their way down to the floor. For the final match, of the preliminaries."