Thread: The Story of the Bird and the Flower. (xxplaywithmexx & MiroKitty)

The Hyuuga noticed the tone of annoyance in Inos voice right away, as if he was any more pleased with her accompaniment. His grimace, in return, was obvious, but he said nothing. Sounds good. He agreed with a nod. Well, this was off to a fantastic start. Neji made his exit, taking to the rooftops himself. His ANBU mask was tugged around his face, the shape was that of indistinct bird. A short, protruding beak and no obvious showing of ears. The mask was rounded and white, as tended to be, a design of red swirls just above the eye. Neji took pride in the position, enough so that he cared not that only the highest ranking shinobi knew of his status. This, of course, included nearly all of his longtime peers, each having grown greatly into powerful protectors of the village. This had his mind drifting toward Yamanaka Ino, his partner. Neji was as guilty as any young man in harboring feelings of attraction toward the flower girl. The beauty had only blossomed further with age. He first took notice of this as teenagers. It took so long before his interests had even fluctuated toward women, so much else was going on. He had been mostly ignorant of Ten-Tens advances back then, though aware now and they still often mingled, Neji had made no move to foster any sort of love. Perhaps it was losing so many friends and peers in the war that left him feeling guilty toward any such emotion, perhaps it was time to move on. But love in the world of shinobi was a dangerous thing. It was so easy to lose a life. So many widowed His feet landed deftly atop the storehouse of the Hyuuga clan. He leapt down and moved the mask away. The clan of fellow ninjas already knew of his involvement with ANBU. They were raised to be of the elite to begin with, such a ranking was their ultimate goal. No one would say it, but the curse seal upon his forehead was still the perfect hindrance to any would-be captors Neji might encounter. His Byakugun wouldnt fall into the hands of any enemy, to be sure, one way or another. As he stocked his pack of essentials and holstered freshly sharpened kunai and other such tools, his thoughts went back to Ino, this time to her growth, specifically. As kids, it was often hard to take the lovelorn girl seriously, but she had proven herself capable time and time again. She survived the war, participated in key battles and assisted with many victories. She had since moved up the ranks at an impressive rate, joining Neji amongst the ANBU eventually. After his recovery, he had worked as hard as ever strengthen everything about himself. By some miracle he had survived when serving as shield for his friend, Uzumaki Naruto. He had no expectations of living, and he would have died content even, giving Naruto and Hinata the defense they needed, the time they needed, the chance they needed. He remembered waking in the all-white room of the hospital, nearly blinded by the light. How he ended up there, he couldnt say, but he owed someone his life. Once packed and ready, Neji set out once more. ANBU mask resting over his face once more, keeping his identity from villagers and lesser shinobi, though plenty suspected who the ANBU operatives were. The masks werent so much to hide identity, Neji figured, but to invoke a certain sense of safety from the civilians, while earning a paralyzing fear from enemies or, in some cases, a desire to duel. Some rogues wondered the forests of Konoha to specifically test their strength against the infamous ANBU. It wasnt often these vagabonds prevailed. In fact, terrorizing villages was even used as ploys to draw them out, searching for renown or even bounties in some cases, as hidden persons with money would recruit mercenary men to strike down the ANBU responsible for a loved one or allys death. Neji halted at the gate, pulling up the straps on his pack, awaitinglooking for Ino. Once outside of the village, maybe, they could talk and form something better than annoyance with each others company. Though it might prove harder than the mission itself for them to find mutual ground through talking.