To My End | Neji x reader

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Two days later_

I woke up coughing so much my chest burned and my ribs ached.

It hurts.

Standing up, I tried to reach for my drawer to grab my pills but I miscalculated just how far away I was and ended up crashing to the floor.

"Ow--" I muttered before pressing my hands against the wooden floor below me to try and push myself up but, "my legs..."

I looked down at them with wide eyes.

"Why... why aren't you moving?" I whispered as I pinched them, "I can't feel anything. Damn it-- why aren't you moving! Move! You have to!"

You have to so I can keep pretending like nothings wrong!

Move, legs! Please! Move!

"Y/n?" Yohei stumbled through the doorway, an exhausted expression on his face.

"Uncle," I looked up to him, I could feel the tears stinging at my eyes, "please help me."

After I said that, another fit of coughs rolled through my body causing me to lurch forward slightly as I covered my mouth. When I finally calmed, I pulled my hand away just to see a stain of red covering my palm.

"Y/n?" I turned to see Yohei staring at me with wide horrified eyes, "y/n don't tell me... Is that what I..? I... Oh no... Hold on, I'm going to grab some shoes, don't move."

I can't move anyway.

He rushed away and then came back quickly.

"Hold on to me," he told me, I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck, he hooked his arm under my legs and the other around my back, "why didn't you tell me it was getting this bad?"

Because I didn't know.

And...

I want to pretend that everything is normal so that I don't worry anyone.

°🧪°
Hospital_

As soon as we reached the hospital, I was recognised instantly and taken away. They did a bunch of tests and then left me and Yohei in a single room. In silence.

I don't know why they still bother to do tests anymore. It's not like I'm actually getting better. I mean-- come on, it doesn't take a genius to realise that.

"Are you feeling better now?" Yohei asked as he stared down at the floor.

"Uh-- yeah," I nodded, leaning back into the pillow and groaning in frustration. If they were going make people lie here then the least they could do is give us comfortable cushions, right?

"Are you OK, uncle?" I asked him, noticing that he hadn't looked away from the floor since we got here.

"Yeah. I'm just--" he sniffles before rubbing his eyes and sitting up, "trying to be cold uncle Yohei."

"You've never been cold, uncle," I laughed, "don't you remember from when I was a kid? You're my big warm bear!"

"I still hate that you called me that," he sighed before smiling, it was silent for a couplw moments before he lost his smile again, "please, y/n, don't die."

Ah...

He's...

I never noticed how much he was suffering too.

Sorry, Yohei.

I just smiled at him as the door opened again and the doctor came in.

"Hello y/n, Yohei. I have the results," the doctor announced.

"Well, how are they? Are they really bad?" Yohei asked as the doctor walked over to us.

"There's no point beating around the bush anymore," the doctor shook his head as he showed us the results. He pulled out an x-ray and pointed at some black stuff that was basically covering my whole body except around my heart and then my head.

"That stuff there is the poison," he told me bluntly, "I'd say you have not even a year left. Maybe until July?"

July? That's not that far away...

"That's in three months!" Yohei roared, "are you telling me that you're so useless you can't even let my niece live a long life?!"

"I'm sorry, Yohei, but there really is nothing we can do. We didn't have the knowledge we have now back when she was first poisoned and now it's developed to a stage where... I'm not even sure our lady Tsunade could heal her," the doctor looked down sadly before looking to me, "I'm so sorry, y/n. If only I wasn't so incompetent back then."

"It's not your fault," I told him, "it's just my fate. Mine is to die early, while my uncles is to die a lot later."

"No, y/n," Yohei took my hands in his with a look of desperation on his face, "that's not true, you know its not. No guardian should watch their ward die."

"I'm just a ward to you now?" I asked, teasingly.

"No," he whispered, "no you're my niece. My precious niece."

"Don't worry about me, uncle," I smiled, "you should probably worry about the huge amount of paperwork you left at home."

"Don't joke around, y/n, this is serious," Yohei sighed, "You're.."

His grip on my hands tightened and I winced slightly as I adjusted to the sudden hold.

"I'll be fine, uncle," I smiled at him, "after all, aren't I my fathers daughter?"

He stared at me with a bewildered expression for a moment before his features softened and he smiled.

"Yes. You are your father's daughter," he nodded, "you... You'll be fine. You'll be fine."

He repeated that phrase a second time, almost as if he was convincing himself that...

... I'd be fine.