Notes: (2010) - Finally gave this the editing it deserved. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own shit.
Aside: The "witch" really was just delirious.

Sleeping Beauty

Scribble, scribble. Flip. More scribbling. Flip once again. Repeat.

An endless morning for Hyūga Neji, writing down mission reports while hunched over his desk, his left hand pressing his forehead. The handwriting gave an obvious impression of his hastness, with the "g's" too large, the "r's" too scrawny, and even omitting various letters, replacing them with large dashes instead of any interpretable symbol.

Neji took a glance at the clock resting beside of him before looking up into the face of his newly fiancée, Tenten. He silently grumbled, making no concern for her arrival.

Tenten smiled softly at him, and her attention went to the documents Neji was holding.

"Oh, Neji, are you really expecting the Hokage to be able to understand any of this?" she asked as cutely as she could.

Neji looked up at her with a dead gaze, "She asked for a report on the last assignment, and I'm giving it to her."

"But I can't read any of this. This word looks like one thing, but it can really be another. If they all are like that, then what is the Godaime supposed to be reading? Updates on the Sound Village's movements, or a recipe for confections?"

Neji frowned, "It doesn't look anything like a recipe."

In response, Tenten giggled, "Oh, you. Look, when I read this word here," she leaned over and pointed at a small line, "I think it reads 'casually.'"

"That says 'casualties,' Tenten," Neji said impatiently, "And there were five."

Tenten fell silent. "Oh…I'm sorry…"

Neji waved it off. "It is fine. They were being careless anyway. They weren't fit enough to be shinobi in this village."

Tenten was still going to pay her respects for the lost lives when suddenly a large puff of smoke exploded in between Neji's and her space. "Ah!" she gasped in surprise and took a step back with her hand over her mouth.

Neji leaped from his seat and took a swipe out of his kunai pouch before activating his Byakugan to identify the intruder. For a few seconds, there was a still silence, with no one knowing who was going to make the first move.

Once Neji realized who entered, he deactivated the Byakugan and annoyingly placed his kunai back in the pouch. "What do you want?" he said, obviously showing his irritation.

"Believe me; I wouldn't have come if I could have prevented it," came the reply. "But it's serious." The smoke had finally begun to clear and Tenten could make out the face of Kiba.

"Oh, hey Kiba. What's with the sudden visit?" she asked.

Kiba stepped up and scratched the back of his head. "Okay. But first, don't start making some weird assumptions as soon as I tell you," he looked over at Neji.

Neji crossed his arms in impatience, "Just get on with it. I've got some work to do."

"Work will be the last thing on your mind in a few seconds. Anyway," Kiba dropped his arm and let it hang be his side, and gave Neji a serious look, "It's about Hinata."

At the mention of her name, Neji's head shot up and gave Kiba an intense glare. "What? What about Hinata? Is she injured?"

"Well, I don't think so…it doesn't look like she's hurt, but she's alive…"

"Then what's wrong?" Neji ran up and grabbed Kiba by the collar. "What's so important that it drove you to come here?" he gave Kiba a shake.

"Neji!" Tenten gasped. Why is he reacting so angrily? It is about his cousin, but…

"Whoa whoa, calm down, father," Kiba grabbed Neji's hands and pushed away from him. "I just said she wasn't hurt, nor dead. But it's still really weird…See, no matter what we do, Hinata's just not waking up."

At the comment, Neji's eyes widened, but he quickly sustained it and reverted back to his normal, calm state. "Go on," he forced out.

"Well, I'll explain everything later. But for the moment, we just need you to follow me to the hospital. She's laying in room 103," Kiba said before turning around and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

For a few stiff moments, Neji and Tenten stood in the room together, neither saying a word. Tenten would glance at Neji, only to be greeted by a cold shoulder. Her heart sank at realizing that she was actually jealous.

"Umm, Neji…?" she whispered.

"…What?" finally came the reply.

"I…I think we should go…and help Hinata."

"…" Neji turned around and looked at Tenten. "You're right. Let's go," and he proceeded to make hand signals and disappear into his own puff of smoke.

After Neji left, Tenten continued to stand in her spot for a few seconds. "Oh, think clearly, Tenten. Neji is just concerned for his cousin. Anybody would…react that way," she tried to reason with herself. "Of course, we've been engaged for a few months now, so is it only natural that I be jealous of any woman within his attention? Perhaps everybody goes through this period of time. Any who, as an upcoming wife to the Hyūga family, I should be loving and caring for his relatives," she nodded in agreement with herself. Upon her decesion, she formed the proper hand signals and dissapeared in the same style of puffed smoke, leaving the room empty, Neji's mission papers scattered over the tatami mat.

.o.

Less than one minute later Tenten and Neji were standing in a hospitol room, along with a few other ninja they were aquainted with. In the far left corner, Hinata was tucked into a small bed with off-white sheets, with a peaceful look on her face, as if nothing horrible was going on.

Neji quickly walked over to Hinata's bedside, along with the other shinobi. Tenten stayed behind and counted how many were here, and quickly noticed that they were mostly all male.

"Let's see…" there was Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, Lee, Kiba, Sasuke still hasn't returned, so…Neji of course was there, and then Sakura, who was apparently working as a medical nin.

Tenten quietly walked up behind all of the boys and tapped on Kiba's shoulder, "Ok…So what exactly is going on with Hinata?"

Everyone in the room glanced at Kiba and Shino, assuming that as her teammates, they would surely know. "Okay, well…" Kiba scratched the back of his head, "We, that is, Shino, Hinata, and I, were returning from an 'A' ranked mission, which was to capture am incredibly dangerous criminal. But this shinobi was very strange…she referred to herself as a 'witch' and seemed to be delerious. She had created many curse jutsus in her crime life and would use them upon high-ranking shinobi from our village."

Shino gave a short nod. "And apparently the kunoichi had put one of her famous jutsus onto Hinata. We had placed the captured ninja into a binding technique and we were carrying her through the woods upon our return…but somehow she had undone the jutsu and placed a surprise attack on us. Hinata was about to bind her once more when she suddenly fell to the ground and appeared to be asleep. She has not woken up since. We have tried everything that would usually do the trick, but to no avail."

"Even the vinegar?"

"Even the vinegar."

Tenten took a step back and winced. I wonder what they're talking about when they say that…

"But yeah, that's what started this whole thing," Kiba took his turn to speak, "And a few hours ago, we did a little bit of research about this 'witch's' techniques, and apparently, this eternal sleep jutsu has been used on several people before. Eventually they've all woken up, but it was because of the same treatment…" Kiba looked up and gave everyone a serious look.

Kiba's words hung in the air, and everyone, including Sakura, leaned in toward Kiba in impatience.

"Well, come on, Kiba!" Naruto blurted. "Spit it out!"

"They way they've all woken up…" Kiba's forehead sweated, "is that they were all kissed by their lover."

Total silence.

Then, "Say whaaaat?"

.o.

"That's ridiculous! Anyone should just be able to kiss her and be done with it!"

Kiba's shoulders drooped. "Yeah, that's what I thought at first…but it didn't work when I…" he drifted off and his cheeks began to grow pink. "Well, you know…just to…check."

All of the air in the room seemed to grow stale for a minute.

Kiba blushed furiously. "W-What're you all staring at! I thought that maybe it would have…" he turned away angrily.

Tenten understood immediately. So Kiba was in love with Hinata…and when he kissed her, she didn't wake up. So in a way, he just got rejected. Poor guy….

"S…So now we know that in order for Hinata to wake up, she needs to love a man, and the man needs to love her back…and the man needs to kiss her. It won't work if it's just one-sided…" his words hung in the air. "S-so that's why I brought you guys here. Shino and I know everyone that Hinata knows, so you guys seemed to be the most likely candidates. And Neji, I know you're engaged and all, but I just wanted you to know what was going on…as her protector and all."

Neji nodded. "I understand."

Tenten sighed with relief. So Kiba wasn't expecting to make Neji kiss Hinata…thank goodness.

"Hey, hey, I just realized something," Naruto loudly said.

Everyone turned to him, not expecting to hear anything of importance coming out of his mouth.

"This situation…it's just like that one story. Beauty and the Beast," his eyes were squinted up.

Everyone's shoulder's dropped. Of course…

"You idiot, Naruto. You're talking about the story called Sleeping Beauty," Sakura said, exasperated.

In response, Naruto's lip pouted out. "Sleeping Beauty? Never heard of it."

Sakura waved him off, "Allright, Naruto, just be quiet and listen to the rest of what Kiba has to say."

"That was everything to it," Kiba said, "The only thing left to do now, is find out who Hinata is really in love with. Ok, so…" Kiba looked around, his cheeks still slightly pink. "Who should go first?"

Automatically everyone's eyes shifted to Naruto.

At first he just looked around, obviously confused. "What?"

"Naruto," Sakura said, calmly, "Everyone knows that Hinata's had a thing for you, back when we were all genin."

"Yeah," Tenten added, "and I doubt that she would have fallen in love with anyone else while you were gone."

"But…" Naruto looked at everyone, "but I don't think I love her like that. I mean, she's a good girl, and she's been there for me countless times, but when I see her, I don't feel anything…like…"

"Naruto, suck it up! You're right—Hinata's a good person and she's there for you, so don't you think that you have something for her, deep down and buried within that idiotic brain of yours?" Sakura sighed.

Naruto looked at Sakura with a shocked look on his face. "But Sakura-chaaaan, it's you I love!"

.o.

Within the next minute, Sakura had given Naruto a hard slap across the face and continued to bark that he may have hidden feelings for the sleeping beauty. Naruto had finally agreed to plant a kiss on Hinata, and was now sluggishly walking over to the bed, his feet dragging to the floor.

When he had made it over to the side of the bed, he softly looked at Hinata with a slight frown. "It's like being told that you have to kiss your sister…"

Tenten was standing toward the back, and had noticed that at Naruto's comment, Neji's fist curled into an angry ball and was shaking slightly.

Neji must be upset that that Naruto filth is being forced to kiss his cousin…she concluded. Tenten slowly walked over to Neji and linked her right arm with his left, showing him that she was concerned. He merely looked at her for a second, and then lifted his head back up to the scene.

Naruto had placed his hand on top of Hinata's, and his face was ever-slowly leaning in closer toward Hinata. A few droplets of sweat were rolling down his forehead; he didn't want his first kiss (well, technically second, but he was forever erasing memories of The Sasuke Incident) to be so awkward and in front of a live audience. He guessed that that was simply the way things were going to be, and continued to lean closer, until finally his lips were softly touching the cold lips of Hinata. For a few moments, the picture remained that way, with both of their eyes closed, and his hand holding hers. But after some dragging seconds, he gently broke away and gazed at Hinata, waiting for her eyes to open.

Nothing happened.

"D…Didn't you feel anything…anything that may be considered love…anything like that at all?" Sakura whispered.

Naruto turned to look at her, "To be honest…it wasn't anything like kissing a sibling. There was something more."

"And she still didn't wake up?" Kiba shouted. "Are you telling me that you love her, and she still didn't wake up? Then what the hell are we supposed to do now!"

"Kiba," Shino stepped over to him and placed a stern hand on Kiba's shoulder. "Calm down. This is the reason why we called over all of the guys."

Kiba looked over at Shino and hesitantly nodded. His shoulders then drooped and he timidly walked over to a chair and plopped himself down, his face buried in his hands. At first, calling over the male shinobi seemed like a good idea, but really…if Hinata didn't love Kiba, Shino (who had also previously kissed the girl, but to no solution) or the idiot Naruto, then who the hell would she be in love with?

During the current predicament, Tenten sighed, and noticed that Neji's left arm had become incredibly tense and stiff. She decided to give him a squeeze. He must be somewhat happy that Hinata didn't love that idiot…but at the same time he's upset that Hinata's still sleeping…he must be overwhelmed by emotions right about now…

Neji only gave her a glance, and then turned his head back up without saying a word.

Tenten looked hurt, and squeezed his arm again, "Hey, Neji…I know this must be tough for you, but please remember…I'm here for you. Don't forget that."

Neji glimpsed back at her again, but remained silent.

The woman was about to try and reassure Neji once more, but after some thinking, decided not to and turned back to the picture.

.o.

"You. Do you have any feelings regarding love for Hinata whatsoever?" Shino was going down the short line of men, asking specific questions in hopes of narrowing down the candidates for Hinata's prince.

Shikamaru, the one who was just asked upon, crossed his arms and sighed. "Barley even know the girl. I highly doubt that I would be able to help in any way."

Shino paused. "…I see." And he continued to walk down the line. He stopped in front of Lee, but before he could say word, Lee had started shouting loudly.

"Oh, what a tragic end! To lay in an eternal slumber, there surely must be something I can do!"

"Well, do you love—"

"I love everybody that resides in Konoha!" Lee had jumped up from his seat and his eyes were raging with fire-like feistiness. "And it is my passionate will that will help protect them! Oh, we cannot let Hinata die like this right in the middle of her greatest youthful stage of her life! Come, I shall do the deed right away!" he had suddenly run over to the bedside and didn't waste any time to add suspense, leaning his head in over hers with his bowl-cut obscuring everybody's view.

Not that anybody was terribly concerned for it, for they were all thinking the same thing. There's no way that Hinata would be in love with Lee.

Tenten had to suppress a few giggles, though. Lee, I thought you were in love with Sakura-san…so why exactly are you leaning down over the Hyūga daughter? He must be just living in the spur of the moment. Oh…Tenten hesitated, but slowly glanced back up at her fiancée. Yes, as she expected, he had a calm, but infuriated at the same time look upon his face. First Naruto, then Lee. I wonder how Neji's feeling about all of this?

To Lee's dismay, it did not work. After a few still seconds, he brought his head up, frowning sadly. "I could not help her…" his head drooped and he sighed.

Nobody seemed to be surprised, although they were comforting, to say the least. "Don't worry about it, Fuzzy-brows."

"Yeah," Tenten chimed in, "And who knows, if not Hinata, maybe someone else has got it in for you."

At that moment, Sakura turned around with dagger-shooting eyes, as if to say to Tenten, You better not be trying to hint at something, here.

Once again, Tenten had to cover her mouth from laughing. She immediately stopped, realizing that it was an incredibly inappropriate time to be chuckling at something.

.o.

Shino walked over to Choji next. They both stared at one another for a few seconds, and then Shino broke the silence, "Should I assume that you have the same explanation as Shikamaru?"

Choji shrugged, reaching his bandaged hand into a crinkled bag of potato chips, "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Argh, damn it!" Kiba had leapt up from his seat and gave a blow to the wall behind him, leaving various cracks and small pieces falling to the floor. "What the hell do we do now?"

"Kiba, please calm down...think it over, there's a good possibility that there are other means other than a kiss to bring her back, just have faith in all of the medical nin," Sakura ran over and reassured him. "We can do it. It may just take a little bit longer than the kiss, but what other choices do we have? It appears that Hinata isn't in love with anybody, so we're just going to have to be patient and work on her carefully until she is revived."

Kiba glimpsed up at Sakura, then sighed and sat back down, with his face buried in his hands once more.

By then, the sharp stiffness in the air that had been floating around ever since it all started was finally beginning to relax a bit more. Everyone was starting to force themselves to accept Hinata's absence for the time being.

"I'll go ahead and call some other medical nin to come in here, and we'll get started on her right away," Sakura announced. "If they're diligent enough, we can have her back in no time at all."

Naruto stood up, "I'll stay here. If that's ok…I promise I won't get in the way."

Sakura turned to him and nodded, "I'll hold you accountable for that, you know. But yes, you can stay here for a while, and Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji and Tenten," she addressed to them all.

Shikamaru waved her offer off. "Nah, that's fine. Choji and I had to avoid a mission debriefing in order to come here, so I'm sure the old lady is pretty steamed up."

Sakura nodded her head, "I understand."

Suddenly Shikamaru and Choji disappeared in identical puffs of smoke, leaving the room feeling a lot larger.

"Okay, so before we get everything started," Sakura made her way over to Hinata's bed and placed a slightly damp towel on her forehead, "I'll be right back, and gather some more medical nin," and she started to walk over to the door.

The girl had her small hand on the door handle when suddenly she heard a soft whisper.

"Hold on."

Sakura, Kiba, and Shino all turned around to see Neji, with his arm still linked to Tenten's.

"D…Did you say something just now, Neji?" Sakura asked quizzically.

"I said hold on," Neji replied, more sternly. He unloosed his arm with Tenten's and started walking in the middle of the room.

Suddenly Tenten's chest felt cold and heavy. "N-Neji! What are you doing?"

Neji paused and turned around to glance at Tenten. She tried to figure out what he was thinking, but his blank, white eyes prevented her from guessing his real intentions. "I am going to help Hinata," He said calmly.

This time Tenten got the feeling of falling down from a great height, and her stomach lurched. "B…But Neji! What do you…I mean…we are…and you…"

Neji slowly turned back around, away from Tenten, "Just how long are you going to stand there and stammer?" Without waiting for an answer, he started stepping over to the bedside.

"But Neji…! You can't possibly be thinking of kissing her!" Tenten forced the words out in a shriek. "It'll only work if you're in love with her, right?"

"I perfectly understand the situation."

"No, you don't! We're…you and I…we're supposed to be getting married this year!" Tenten shouted, and held up her left ring finger to remind Neji of his commitment.

Neji closed his eyes and paused for a long moment.

"W-Well…" Tenten was shaking her left fist, "S…Say something!"

Neji opened his eyes and turned to Tenten. The girl was hoping with every fiber in her body that Neji would suddenly realize what he's doing, and walk back over with a soft smile, saying 'Sorry, I didn't know what I was thinking.' And tried once more to read his emotions, but to her dismay, he remained standing, calm and motionless.

"Tenten," he finally began, "It's not like me to apologize on my own, but I'm sorry it's hurting you so much."

"How can you possibly be sorry?" Tenten breathed. "How can you possibly do this? Why did you ever agree to marry me? What in the world were you thinking when you said 'yes' to my proposal?"

Neji hesitated for a minute before answering, "I had thought that the woman I loved held a deep hatred for me, all the while silently watching the backside of another man. I thought that I could eventually move on from her. I thought you could help me recover."

"So…So I'm just…an alternate choice?" Tenten spat out, tears rolling down her rosy red cheeks, "So you're just going to get all lovey-dovey with me, and then just…?"

During this incredibly awkward moment, Shino, Kiba, Naruto, and Sakura were all looking at each other uncomfortably. Should they step in and help resolve things? Or should they lay back and let them handle their lover's quarrel? When it seemed like the three men weren't going to do anything, Sakura decided to step up.

"Everyone, please settle down…Let's just sit down and figure everything out…"

Tenten twisted to Sakura angrily, "Quiet, this isn't any of your business! Besides…I've already pretty much figured everything out…" she said sadly, turning back to look at Neji. "The man that I love is just out to get what he wants, whenever he feels like it, with no regard to his surroundings whatsoever…" she whispered, her heart hurting from forcing the words out of her mouth.

Neji did not oppose her. He leaned his head over and murmured, "You may say anything you want of me." He turned around to look at her once more, "But I am going to help Hinata," and then he continued to make his way over to Hinata's bedside; nothing was going to interrupt him now.

"Wait, Neji!" Tenten leapt up, suddenly taking back everything she had just said previously. "Please don't do this!"

But her pleads were ignored, and Neji was now gripping Hinata's small hand in an affectionate squeeze. In an effort to not completely mimic Naruto's moves, Neji slid his right hand under Hinata's head and lifted it up as he leaned over her.

"Neji!"

Without wasting another beat, Neji bent down and softly pressed his lips onto Hinata's. Her lips felt icy cold, and for a moment Neji had wondered if Hinata was truly dead, but after sustaining his position for a few long seconds, he suddenly felt overwhelming warmth emitting from her. From his hand, he felt her fingers give a twitch, and Neji opened his eyes to find a pair of eyeballs identical to his staring right back at him with great confusion. All of a sudden Neji felt a feeling of excitement and relief, and in his overjoyed state, broke the kiss abruptly and tightly hugged Hinata. "Hinata-sama!" he gasped, and tightened his grip on her shoulders. "Hinata-sama…"

The poor girl could only sit up and look at Neji with great puzzlement.

"Neji-niisan? What's going on?"

End