Insomnia

XI

For a while after returning to Konoha, Neji was a little sullen. Still, his depressed mood disappeared when he and Naruto somehow landed an escort mission together, and he opened up a bit more to the blonde about his stay than he had anyone else. He could imagine Naruto nodding sagely about Neji’s description of Gaara.

“Yeah, that’s about right,” Naruto would say.

Neji was often called for babysitting duty for Momogi, Asumako and Asagi when Kurenai needed a night out and Shikamaru was tired of dealing with her daughter. Neji felt he knew more about babies and children than their actual parents sometimes and was seen as a god by mothers around Konoha’s shinobi community when he got a group of ankle-biters to actually nap. Neji never told them he ran them ragged with games of tag and hide and seek and – Neji’s personal favourite – manhunt.

Three weeks into his return, Neji began to wake feeling ill and the sickness would often last well to midday. He figured he’d caught a cold form the kids he watched and began to drink and eat healthier foods than what was normally offered to him. Vitamins and an occasional dose of cold medicine seemed to do the trick for a while too. The sickness passed, but a week later, Neji was finally throwing up. He kept it quiet but sought out a confidential source he could trust in the medical field. Sakura told him he had a cold and gave him a prescription. The medicine seemed to do the trick, but the sickness changed to odd cravings and Neji felt like a thief, sneaking around just so he could have chocolate covered tomatoes.

Two months later a miracle happened.

Neji was used to sleeping with his eyes closed. It didn’t really matter since his world was dark now anyway, but it was preference. He would wake early, but remain in bed to orient himself before he began the day. Today was no different, but he had promised Hinata he would go with her to find an anniversary present for Ino, and had instructed the kunoichi to wake him and help him get ready. He heard his bedroom door slide open, then close, and Hinata’s quiet steps as approached him. Her movements were deliberately slow, so Neji was expecting her hand on his shoulder. He rolled, blinked his eyes open and saw Hinata’s moonlight eyes staring back at him.

He blinked, but her image didn’t change or waver. Her expression changed from a gentle smile to frown when Neji kept blinking.

“Neji-nii-sama?” Hinata questioned.

“I… I can see you.”

How wide her eyes went then and Hinata dropped to her knees before him, looking surprised as Neji pushed himself up. He rubbed his eyes but the colours, the images, wouldn’t fade.

“H-how?” Hinata quietly asked, startled to say the least.

“I don’t know.” Neji replied, rising from his bed to move around, testing his sight. Hinata blushed and quickly excused herself from her cousin’s room, allowing him to dress. He wasn’t blind. What sort of miracle was this? He’d just gotten used to his new dark world and now his sight was back. He dressed quickly and found Hinata waiting for him, hands clasped together before her. Hiashi stood behind her, his face one of surprise and relief when Neji looked right at him and actually saw him.

For some reason, that alone upset Neji, for he knew not if his regained sight was permanent or not. He gave Hiashi a respectful bow and moved down the hall with Hinata out into the village. They spent a good deal of time looking through stores until Hinata found the perfect gift for Ino and then two jounin headed toward a restaurant for lunch. They were soon joined by Naruto and Ino, the latter always trying to peek into the bag Hinata carried. Ino was the first to discover Neji could see again. After that, it spread all over Konoha like a wildfire and all sorts of questions and people looking for answers assaulted Neji. Neji noticed Naruto’s crystalline blue eyes sharpen considerably when they rested on him and soon Naruto was getting up and pulling Neji along with him, leaving the restaurant and bounding for a place they would get some quiet.

Hiding on the busts of the Hokages, Naruto finally turned to Neji, eyes tinting orange.

“How long have you been sick?” The blonde jounin questioned.

Neji frowned. “A couple weeks out of a month, why?”

“How long has it been?”

“What?”

“Since you you’ve been sick.”

“Two.” Neji groaned. "Where are you going with this?”

Naruto gave a cry of anguish – or annoyance, probably both – and gripped his head in his hands.

“Why is everybody getting pregnant!? It’s like everyone I know! And all of them are male! I’m the one with Kyuubi, I’m the weirdo of Konoha! STOP STEALNG MY TITLE!”

Neji blinked slowly. “I’m not pregnant.”

“You tell that to Kyuubi. He can smell it.” Naruto replied with a low growl. “Something got fucked up in you the same way it got fucked up in Shikamaru.”

Neji stared at the blonde for a long time, silences stretching between them. “You’re positive.”

“As the sky is blue.” Naruto replied.

Neji sighed and looked down at his flat stomach. “Damn.”