Title: Like a Bird

Claimer/Author: This story is written by and belongs to Emmy Kay.

Summary: His most lasting image of her. Neji, Tenten.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.

The first time he saw her, she had dashed past him, nearly running into him, grinning cheekily, a trailing a staff weapon behind her like other girls might a hair ribbon. It was the first day of school. They were six years old.

His next impression of her came when they were picked for Team Gai. After their names were called, she had shaken her head and sighed. As if she were disappointed.

Didn't she know that he was the one who ought to be disappointed? He didn't need to be in a team. He was a genius. He didn't need anyone, didn't want anyone. Neji had already shown his absolute dominance over his classmates through the years. He had nothing left to prove. Not to them.

He accepted Gai, Lee, and Tenten because he had to, like so much else in his life. But that didn't mean he didn't resent it.

Their first practice was something he would never forget. It wasn't because of all the time Lee and Gai spent pumping each other up with their special brand of student-teacher bromance. It wasn't because Lee, eyes aflame, demanded that Gai demand more and more of them. It wasn't because Gai and Lee had taken off on an impromptu 15k run, in some bizarre bonding/one-upmanship co-competition.

It was because of something Tenten did.

At the end of practice, she had climbed a tree, and jumped. She had spun, whipping open that ridiculously long scroll she was always carrying. She summoned all manner of sharps, flinging them to the ground in a circle. She landed, as lightly as wind-borne milkweed floss, the scroll's ends flowing behind her like a carelessly thrown sash. Then she had laughed, pleased with the world and her place in it.

The taste of envy, already familiar, was dark and bitter in his mouth. It was so incredibly unfair. He would give anything to be that free, that unfettered. He couldn't even dream of being so unburdened.

She had turned her head and looked at him, her brown eyes merry. Even then, so long ago, he knew how lovely she was.

He did something in later years he could not forgive the younger version of himself for doing. He had said, flatly, "Your circle is crooked."

Tenten looked. Then she turned back to him. "Yes, it is," she said. Then she flipped him the finger. And she smiled, as charming as a pink bow in a small girl's hair.

Years would pass. Events would change them and their bond to each other, to Lee and to Gai.

Yet when he closes his eyes for the last time, before the seal on his forehead performs its grim duty, he will remember that one day above all else. Because he saw something he did not believe possible: someone who would never know a cage.