To Blindly Follow

Hello everybody. how are all of you. Thank you for the reviews, I cherish them all. Sorry about the lack of Neji and Sasuke togetherness, but that will be fixed in the next chapter. Anyway, much love to you all and thank you for reading.

I DO NOT OWN!!!!!!


Hiashi watched as Hinata tried to wake her cousin. They had moved him into his own room and made him as comfortable as they could. Neji was still breathing, but it was shallow and ragged. “Father, what happened?” she asked.
“One of the elders got carried away,” he replied, “Can you heal him?”
She shook her head. “To much damage for me,” she said, “I have stabilized him temporarily though, you may want to have Tsunade take a look.”
The young heir then glared at her father. “What did he do to deserve this anyway?” she snapped, “And why didn’t you stop it?”
Hiashi sighed. “We will talk later, first, have someone run and get the Hokage,” he said, “We must make sure that Neji will be all right.”
The girl nodded and left the room. Hiashi looked down at his nephew, the pale skin looking even worse against the dark blue bed linens. He sat on the bed, and sighed. “Damnit, Neji, why do you always have to do this?” he mumbled, sadly.

Tsunade ran back to the compound with Hinata. The Hokage was worried about the boy, after what his cousin had said. She ignored all inquiries as to why she was in such a hurry. When she arrived, a branch family member brought her directly to the bedroom of one Neji Hyuuga. She gasped when she saw her nin. “I hope there’s a damn good explanation for this,” she snapped.
She knelt down and began to work on Neji. “Hokage,” Hiashi began, but stopped when he heard Neji moan.
The teen started to shift painfully, trying to get way from the hands that gently worked on him. Tsunade sighed in relief and continued to heal the damage done by the jutsu. “We will talk when I am done.”

Pain, nothing but pain. Neji tried to move away from the source, but it followed him. He could hear voices again, but they were distorted. Slowly, the pain began to vanish, but he was left with this disoriented feeling. He shifted some and tried to move away from the hands again. “Please,” he gasped.
The hands pulled away, letting him get his bearings. He tried to sit up, but his body would not cooperate. Stronger hands helped him sit up and a warm body sat behind him. He shifted again before he realized………, everything was black. Terrified, he tried to pull away, but he was held still. A glass of water was held to his lips and he drank gratefully, just realizing that he was thirsty.

Tsunade looked at her nin in disbelief. The opal eyes were wide, but did not focus on anything. “Neji, are you all right?’ she asked.
The teen shook his head. “It is so dark,” he whispered, “I want Sasuke, please.”
Hinata gasped. “This was all over his relationship with Sasuke?” she snapped, “So, you probably damage him permanently because you do not like who he is sleeping with?”
“Hinata, later,” Hiashi said, staring at his nephew.
Neji was trying to get away, but his uncle held him tightly. Tsunade flashed a light in the nin’s eyes and frowned. “No reaction,” she muttered, “Shit, I think you blinded him.”
“Hokage, what happened?”
“Too much damage done to his optic nerves,” she said, “He probably had his Byakugan activated.”
Hinata stared at her cousin, who was beginning to look around frantically. Neji moved his hand to grasp at Hiashi’s, trying to find some grip on what was happening. Tsunade stood and looked at the clan leader. “I want him in the hospital for a while, just for observation,” she said, “I am hoping that I can fix this.”
Neji relaxed slightly, listening to the conversation, but not understanding it. Hinata watched for a moment, and frowned. “Father, if he cannot be a nin, what is he going to do?”
“Hinata, we will decide that when the time comes, but for right now, we have to discuss why you did not tell me of the relationship,” he said sternly, laying Neji back down, “I could have avoided this whole ordeal.”
The girl looked away and sighed. “He asked me not to say anything.”
Tsunade looked at Neji and then at Hinata. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I am certain that I will be able to fix this, at least to the point where he can function.”
The girl smiled warily. “I hope so.”

Neji was brought to the hospital under the cover of darkness. The clan elders decided that it would be prudent, considering that Neji was the best nin that they had, to hide the damage. Tsunade watched as they settled him in. He fell asleep fairly quickly, having exhausted himself earlier. She walked to her room and sat down with a sigh. “Shit, this is bad,” she muttered, “How to tell Gai that one of his students may not be coming back.”
She had been sitting for about an hour when Shizune came running in. “Hokage,” she gasped, “It’s Neji!”
Tsunade jumped up and ran into the room where the Hyuuga prodigy was. His body was stiff and he seemed to be having problems breathing. “Seizure,” she said, “Damn, I thought I caught everything.”
She began another set of healing jutsus. After ten minutes, the pale teen finally began to relax. “Keep him asleep, let him heal,” she said.


Three days later.
Sasuke and Sakura walked into the village, carrying Naruto. The blonde nin was grinning like an idiot, his broken leg hanging limply. Sakura dropped him on the ground in front of the Hokage’s tower. “Walk the rest of the way,” she ground out, “You are such an idiot!”
Naruto laughed. “At least I did it saving your pink ass!”
Sasuke shook his head and walked away from them. “Hey, you two morons,” he said, “I want to go home and go to bed, let’s go see the Hokage now and argue later!”
Sakura blushed and followed the Uchiha into the building. Naruto limped after them, calling for them to slow down. Tsunade was sitting at her desk, looking through paper work. “Well, glad to see you guys are back,” she said, “How did the mission go?”
Sasuke smirked at Naruto and then turned to the Hokage. “According to plan, the only problem here was that dobe got into a fight and broke his leg,” he said.
Tsunade laughed. “All right,” she said, “Well let’s get him to the hospital and get him fixed up.”
They made their way through the hallways of the hospital. Shizune stepped out of one of the rooms and stopped Tsunade. “He is awake,” she whispered, “But he has almost no control over his left side.”
Tsunade frowned. “All right,” she said, “Hopefully, that repairs itself in time.”
Shizune nodded. “Do you want anything done right now?”
The Hokage nodded. “Do not tell Hiashi Hyuuga,” she said, “If they find out, then they will want to take him home before he has a chance to completely heal and I can’t have that.”
Sasuke turned and looked at Tsunade. “Who are you talking about?”
“Neji Hyuuga,” Shizune said.
The nin looked into the room and saw his lover laying on the bed. Neji was staring off in to the distance, not really noticing the other nurse in his room. “May I go and see him?’ he asked.
Tsunade thought for a moment and then remembered what Hinata had said to Hiashi. “Shizune, take Uzumaki to another room and fix him up,” she said, “I have to have a conversation with Sasuke here.”
The medic nodded and helped the other teen away. Sakura glanced at her other teammate before following the injured one. Sasuke looked at the woman in front of him expectantly. “Well, what the hell is going on, granny?” he asked.
“Neji was injured a few days ago,” she said, “I got to him shortly after the incident, but major damage had been done…….., he had a few seizures when he got here and I had them keep him asleep to help him heal.”
She looked at the young man. “He is going to need a lot of care, but I don’t think that his family can be trusted with it,” she continued, “Can he stay with you?’
Sasuke nodded mutely and looked into the room. Tsunade stepped out of the way and allowed him to enter. Sasuke walked up to the bed and looked at his lover. “Neji,” he said softly.
Opal eyes turned to him and Neji smiled. The smiled was lopsided, the left side of his face not cooperating with the rest. “Sasuke, when did you get back?” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
“Just about an hour ago,” he said, “What happened?”
“My uncle found out,” the Hyuuga replied, “He and the elders were angry.”
Sasuke touched the pale face and frowned. “Tsunade wants you to come and stay with me for the rest of your recovery,” he said, “Is that all right with you?’
Neji nodded. The Uchiha leaned forward and kissed the thin lips gently. “No matter what, I will never let them hurt you again.”