What Lies Beneath

A/N: Sorry if its kinda short, hope you enjoy it anyway and I appreciate all the reviews :o)
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Chapter Two

Pausing to look behind and around him, incase anyone had shown up, and finding himself still alone with the occasional fluttering of a bird, Neji quickly turned back to the tree then carefully he reached in and gently pulled the body out into brighter light. It was a boy around his age, maybe a year or so younger. Neji's brows furrowed for a moment. There was something familiar about him. Mostly the pale skin and dark hair, both of which were covered in dirt and what smelled like blood. Pulling him out of the hole completely Neji froze mid move as the recognition sunk in. He'd seen this boy before in the past. He was a leaf ninja, well now former Konoha shinobi. "Uchiha Sasuke."

............

Neji stares at the other in disbelief, questions rapidly firing through his mind. 'How did he get back to Fire Country? Why was he here? What happened to him? How'd he end up in this bad state?'

Giving himself a mental shake he tries to stay focused, there'd be time for questions later when the nuke-nin woke, if he woke. Neji shifted around a bit sitting on his legs to lay the head of the limp cold body on his knees.

Having the chance in better light he looked the boy over more thoroughly now and he didn't like what he saw. "Shit." It was obvious that Sasuke had been in some kind of fight, a nasty one he figured, from the wounds showing. It also looked like at some point while running away Sasuke had tried to patch himself up but the job was rushed, sloppy and didn't hold. Going into a deeper exam Neji activates his Byakugan to see the damage going on inside. Eyes roamed over bruised organs, but it was nothing too serious and then he notices something off in the teens veins. "Poison?" The dark liquid has been slowly circulating through the Uchiha's system and has nearly spread to cover every inch of him. Frowning Neji moved on also noticing that the boy was chakra depleted. To most shinobi this was their life source which explained why Sasuke was unconscious now. That was at least one thing he could fix at the moment.

Taking his index and middle fingers, Neji placed them over various parts of the Uchiha's injured body, letting some of his own chakra gently flow into the other. He also reopened any closed off chakra paths to help their flow return to a normal pace faster. Once satisfied Neji removed his hand and sighed. Lifting his head to the gray sky he closed his eyes trying to think of his next move.

'He'll die if I leave him here.' Was his first obvious thought. 'A medic nin would probably report the both of us if I tried to get him treated.' That's the last thing the Hyuuga wanted to deal with, not only would this be bad for his reputation but he'd also have his clan to deal with once they found out. A frown marred his delicate, yet still very masculine features as he thought of his other options. Telling anyone that he'd found the Uchiha would definitely end in the same result. Leaving him there to die would weigh too heavily on his conscious. Fixing his wounds and leaving him to the fates, turning him in, taking him in... All of the above seemed to be following the same troublesome path, leading to a bad ending.

A drop of rain hit the Hyuuga's nose trickling down a smooth cheek. Neji opened his eyes immediately shutting them again as the clouds parted for more rain to rapidly fall. Lowering his head he stared at the unconscious boy in his lap. Sasuke's breathing was barely noticeable and he appeared to be in a great deal of discomfort if not pain in general.

The Hyuugas and Uchihas had been long time rivals in Konoha. One clan believing they were more superior than the other. A feud that was undoubtedly pointless now, considering what happened to the Uchiha clan. So that was no reason for Neji to leave the other to die. Neji had always sort of admired the Uchiha since the first few times he'd run into the other at the chuunin exams, nearly three years ago.

He'd wanted to fight him of course, maybe even befriend the other if it were possible. Those feelings had quickly deflated after Sasuke turned traitor on the Leaf village and with the biggest threat to Konoha, Orochimaru of all people. All for power and revenge, from what little Neji knew and heard about the situation. It was nothing to admire and yet for some reason Neji couldn't hate Sasuke for it. There was even a moment when he'd found himself feeling sympathetic to the Uchiha and his situation.

After their mission to retrieve Sasuke from running away or being taken by Orochimaru's minions, when Neji had nearly lost his life, he had had plenty of time to think the entire ordeal over while he recovered in the hospital. The Hyuuga came to the conclusion that Sasuke couldn't be completely blamed for his actions. There had always been a small part of Neji himself that knew if he had been in Sasuke's positions, especially at a young age and in a bad frame of mind, if someone had offered him power and strength to avenge his own father's death he'd probably take it. Losing his father so young was the most devastating event in the young boys life and he couldn't even imagine how Sasuke must have and must still feel losing his parents and entire clan by the hands of his own brother. With no explanation to attempt easing his mind, at least Neji knew his fathers reason for dying, no matter how many years he'd had to wait for the truth.

You should never judge a book by its cover or the first few pages. It was something Neji had never done himself until having fought with Naruto in the chuunin final exams. The boy had opened his eyes to a lot of things that day. Now Neji lived by the rule that finding out what lies beneath a persons surface is more important than what they show you on the outside. Because more often than not what was given was false or only a small piece of the persons true self. Neji had often been misjudged himself by hiding his true self from others and giving the haughty arrogant Hyuuga persona on the outside. It was a painful way to live he knew all too well, by the way others treated him, feared him and whispered about him. Fortunately being a Hyuuga gave him time and practice to ignore these remarks and actions so it didn't bother Neji, too much. Glancing back up at the crying sky Neji closed his eyes and gave his head a shake.

Shifting positions to stand he lifted the near lifeless body up over his shoulder and took off to the nearby safe house that his team had used the night before. He traveled quickly but carefully so to not further aggravate his cargo. Just as a loud clap of thunder had sounded and a snap of lightning flashed he'd made it to the secret tree. Using the same jutsu as Gai, he opened the door to the safe house and activated his Byakugan to get inside without the aid of the lantern. There'd be time for lighting it later. He sat Sasuke against the wall and rolled out one of the futons then placed the boy face up on top of the bed. Half running back to the stairs he retrieved the lantern and lit it setting it down next to Sasuke. His next move was to start the fire pit and get the room and hopefully the teen warm.

He went for a basin and jugs of water to fill it with, then carefully held the bowl over the fire just long enough to warm the water. Going back to place it by the lantern, he then went to grab the first aid kit and rags. Hesitant, after setting up his faux hospital, Neji eyed the needles and poison antidote. 'There's no time to hesitate now.' He prepared the needled and filled it with the solution that was meant for counter acting all types of poisons. Neji just prayed that whatever was in Sasuke's system wasn't unknown or untreatable. He gave the teen the needle in his arm, letting its contents drain into the vein to take affect. With the biggest threat taken care of he proceeded to the minor injuries. Dipping one of the rags into the water he pulled it out giving it a squeeze then began wiping the boys dirty face. Neji dropped the rag back into the water and began removing Sasuke's ragged shirt revealing all the cuts and bruises and what appeared to be a stab wound below his ribs, all covering his nicely toned but thin and wearing body.

The Hyuuga grimaced before squeezing the rag again and proceeding to repeat the cleaning until he was satisfied with the lack of dried blood and dirt gone, now leaving marred pale skin. His next step was to open the medical kit and disinfect the cuts before applying a healing salve and bandaging him up. There was nothing he could do about the filth in his hair or the lower half of Sasuke's body for now. He fought off the awkward feelings from just thinking about having to clean any further down the others body. Neji was no stranger to naked men or woman, due to pictures from academy lessons, he hadn't actually seen a woman naked in real life. He'd been around Gai and Lee and a few other friends enough times to have been forced to see their naked bodies before. At hot springs, gyms and the sauna. This was different, this was a very attractive, very unconscious Uchiha Sasuke and looking or touching now would seem like violating the other to the young teen. Dismissing all those thoughts Neji continued on.

Once his work was completed Neji noticed a small change in Sasuke's sleeping form, he seemed slightly more relaxed, as if the tension was slowly melting from his body. For some unknown reason this pleased the young Hyuuga. "The antidote must be taking affect, good." He sighed with relief as the boys color began slowly returning to normal and his breathing began to pick up audibly. Standing, Neji cleaned up his mess, making sure to properly package and throw out the used needle. He tossed the cooled water outside into the grass, dried the bowl out and returned it to the shelf along with the med kit.

Crouching down next to Sasuke's body Neji stared at the teens face, glowing in the fire light. He remembered the few times he'd seen the Uchiha when they were still genin, before Sasuke ran away. It wasn't even a handful of times but each encounter left him feeling something for the other. Sasuke had always intrigued Neji and not just for the fact that they both shared ninjutsu style attacks. It was more than a want to test the others abilities and fight him. Sasuke had been so immature, so confident and high headed. Now here he was at Neji's mercy.

In that moment the Uchiha looked everything that he probably wasn't- innocent, peaceful. "You always were attractive, more so now that you've grown." He whispered to the sleeping body. Neji couldn't resist wanting to touch the other but forced himself not to, thank the Kages for his discipline training. Frowning at his behavior he activated his Byakugan to busy himself and check the others stats. So far Sasuke was stable and the poison counteract was doing its job. His chakra flow was still returning slowly but making progress. Satisfied he deactivated his kekkei genkai.

All of Neji was telling him to leave Sasuke here and go for help, maybe Kakashi his former sensei would know what to do. Or maybe he should just turn him in to the Hokage, and let the former leaf nin become Konoha's prisoner. It was the right thing to do by law, by the village. Sasuke could be a threat.... but somehow Neji felt that statement was wrong. He couldn't abandon the boy now, not after all he's done so far to help him. It was decided then, he'd give the Uchiha a chance to make the decision for himself once he woke. Instead of throwing him to the wolves or leaving things to fate.

"The only problem is what do I do with you now?" He continued to stare watching Sasuke's chest rise and fall. "I can't keep you here another shinobi or traveller might stop in and find you. That wouldn't be good would it?" A small puff of air left the Hyuuga's parted lips and he stood walking away from the other.

"We'll wait until early morning and I'll I take you home." Even as he spoke his features frowned knowing this was wrong in so many ways for so many reasons but what other option was there? Luckily no one really came to his apartment muchm with the exception of his teamates for training, or Nara Shikamaru, who he'd befriended during their mission to retrieve the Uchiha. Shikamaru was there for Neji during his hospital stay and they'd been friends since then, playing the occasional Shougi game or reading, just sitting quietly. Most recently engaging in more adult physical activities. Which wasn't serious or a relationship by any means but had helped the Hyuuga with those maturing urges and his appreciation for the male body.

Neji headed up to the exit and opened the tree door peering out and swore, having forgotten about the rain, which stopped but didn't mean an end to the dark clouds blocking out the sun. Having no watch or clock inside Neji went back down and assumed it was late in the afternoon by now which meant hours of waiting for the right moment to get the unconscious Uchiha back to his place. Unless he came up with another way before then.

He took a seat a short distance from Sasuke and leaned his back against the wall. Closing his eyes breifly, listening to the boys quiet breathing. A moment later he reopened them having thought of the perfect way to sneak Sasuke into the village unnoticed. He just hoped it would work. He stood staring down at the sleeping form and thought back to all the jutsu lessons he'd learned. Transforming yourself was easy enough but could you perform the same technique on another person? Taking a breath he concentrated his mind only on Sasuke's form and an image of a random Hyuuga memeber. His clan usually kept to themselves so no one would find it too strange to see the Hyuuga out with another and there was no chance that anyone who did see them would run into the fake Hyuuga and ask what they'd been doing. So with conviction Neji tried the hand symbols for the transformation jutsu. There was a cloud of smoke shrouding the Uchiha, a good sign and once the smoke cleared Neji smirked. "Hn."

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A/N:I figure they're mystical ninjas I don't know all the workings of techniques and jutsu's so for story sake you can transform someone else. And an insight to next chapter Sasuke wakes up.