❝Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.❞

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FOUR:

UNSPOKEN ATTRACTION

A curse escaped him as his hip bumped into the hard corner of a metal trolley, which sent it smacking against the wall lightly. Stopping for an instant, Neji considered going back to the infernal room he'd been spending the past few days in. He felt stupid - the whole situation did; walking around with a long stick to avoid crashing into things, yet constantly stumbling over and making a fool out of himself.

In a moment of frustration, he was tempted to toss the stick away and find his way around on his own. But at the possibility of running into a nurse, he clicked his tongue and resumed his slow walk. Having someone scolding him for his lack of common sense would only aggravate him further, and he didn't want to risk it.

He almost wished Sayoko was there to calm him down, or to distract him from his increasing annoyance. But the mysterious woman never visited him during the day, so he would have to suck it up and make progress by himself.

That morning posed a new challenge for him; it was the first time he left the familiar, yet oppressing walls of his hospital room. He wasn't allowed to leave the building yet, but the nurse had suggested trying to reach the gardens spread on the backyard. His legs, albeit half-asleep due to the lack of activity and light for long hours, carried his weight down murky corridors and towards a destination somewhere at their hidden end.

I should have asked, he chastised himself - and his pride - for letting his irritation weigh more than the rational part of his mind.

Neji was lost; that much was obvious. With no other option but to turn around and find his way back, he let out a heavy sigh and rounded on his heel.

"Oh, there you are!"

A woman no older than him appeared around the corner, smiling in relief as her lavender eyes landed on the taller man. Neji stopped as her footsteps echoed between the walls, as she approached him with short strides.

"Hinata," he acknowledged, having recognized the soft voice of his cousin. "Why are you here?"

The purple-haired heiress of the Hyūga clan observed him with sad eyes; she hated seeing him in such a disheartening situation. She also caught the irked tone in his gruff voice, but paid it no mind and spread her cheerful aura around him.

"You weren't in your room, so I asked a nurse," she replied while placing a hand on his forearm, if only to aid him. Ignoring the frown on his lips at her gesture, she added, "Do you still want to go to the gardens?"

Neji didn't find it in himself to push her away; after all, she was only trying to help him. No matter how much her presence bothered him - her pity towards him so very obvious -, he thanked her and allowed the woman to guide him.

"How are you managing, Neji?" she asked as they walked in the opposite direction he had been following.

"I'm fine."

Sending him a glance from the corner of her eye, Hinata bit the inside of her cheek as to not call him on his lie. Having spent most of her life with him by her side, she could see through his closed expression and would not be fooled so easily. However, that was also the reason she knew better than prodding him to share his feelings.

"My father sends his best wishes on your recovery," she commented, changing the subject. "He would visit, but he spends his days on meetings with other important clans and lords. The war took its toll, after all."

Neji shook his head, causing his brown hair to flap about. "He's the head of the Hyūga. I expect no less."

There was no accusing edge in his voice; he understood the obligations of his clan, as it was one of the pillars of Konoha.

"I'm sure he will manage to find the time visit you," Hinata murmured as they neared the corridor where his room was located - as well as the one which led to the gardens.

Halting all of sudden, Neji readied himself to ask a question whose answer had been denied to him ever since he had woken up from his mini coma. "Hinata, what happened after I was stabbed?"

Her hand fell from his forearm, and she fidgeted on the spot. However, before Neji had the change to press on the matter, someone walked up to them.

"Neji, it's great to see you up and about," Naruto Uzumaki greeted with his usual grin, blue eyes gleaming as he glanced at Hinata and the latter blushed noticeably.

Pushing his annoyance away for a fleeting moment, Neji flashed him a forced smile. "It's been a while, Naruto."

Chuckling, the blond was about to drag the conversation when realization seemed to crash over him and made him halt. He glanced at the woman and spoke quickly, "Hinata, we were just planning the mission in the Land of the Wav-"

"Yes, I k-know!" she abruptly cut him off, stuttering all the way and making both men frown -for different reasons. "I'm sorry, Neji. I'll walk you to your room, if you want. But I have to go now."

His anger spiked, but he didn't show it. Naruto, no matter how much he had matured over the years, had yet to comprehend what keeping a secret meant - or the meaning of a secret in general. While it had driven him crazy many times before, Neji was glad he was still a klutz. It was evident Hinata was trying to keep him in the dark about what had happened after his death, and he wondered if this mission was related to it by the way she was making such a fuss about it - she sounded out of character, even.

"There's no need for that," he ended up saying, extending his walking stick and making his way between the pair. "Have a nice day."

A mission in the Land of the Waves?

Under normal circumstances, Neji wouldn't have given it a second thought; after all, as ninjas of a big nation like Konoha, they were expected to receive missions from smaller countries. However, something about it was making him feel uneasy. As he stepped inside his room and the door closed behind him, he tilted his head and focused on his surroundings.

"Sayoko?" he tried. The woman had admitted she had been watching him, so perhaps she was around - even if he couldn't feel her presence at all.

His lips pursed and he sighed in defeat - she was doing a terrible job at stalking him. Turning around, his hand hovered in front the knob as the young man mulled over his options. But taking a walk around the gardens didn't feel so appealing anymore; with his thoughts all over the place, finding peace under the stare of the sun would be impossible.

His hand dropped by his side, and his mind drifted to Sayoko. What could she possibly be doing? Needless to say, she was an unwelcomed presence in the village - even if he was aware of it, he was certain she wanted to keep out of sight. Walking around in the open would pose a problem to her, not to mention the human needs such as finding food or a place to rest.

Following his instincts, Neji focused on his surroundings again. His nose caught the smell of the eggs he had had for breakfast, still lingering in the hot air and mingling with the untouched tea that had gone cold by now. The white walls seemed to close in on him as he sent waves of chakra towards them and the invisible fingers fumbled with the hard surface, trying to catch a piece of her presence after remembering how she had seemingly melted in the stone the night they had met.

Neji felt his muscles tense upon finding glimpses of her, her essence breathing a path around the room as if she had searched the place in his absence. Relaxing and collecting his remains of chakra, he let out a sigh and stepped forward.

"Sayoko," he repeated, confident upon realizing she was there, after all.

But silence was his only response. A frown formed on his forehead as annoyance took shape in his heart; was she ignoring him?

No, he answered mentally.

He could feel her, but it was a barely-noticeably trace of her having been there at some point during the time he had been away. She wasn't in the room anymore. The fact raised yet another question to his restless mind: Why would she visit when he wasn't in the room?

But suddenly, his ears perked at the distant sound of rain. His feet shuffled as he followed it towards its source, not realizing his mistake until he had opened the bathroom door and stepped inside.

As the shower stopped, a startled Sayoko barely kept herself from yelping. Cold tears ran along her smooth skin, caressing her lean body and wiping away the remains of soap. Her eyes were wide for a moment of shock, before her lips curled into a smirk.

"Sayoko?" His voice echoed in the small room as he stood by the open door, confusion plastered all over his features. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Surprise gleamed in her eyes for an instant, before she crossed her arms and leaned against the slippery wall. "How did you know it was me?"

Neji didn't even hesitate. "Who else would have the guts to use my shower?"

A short laugh escaped her, and she granted, "Fair enough."

"And I could feel you," he added - he felt a strange wish to receive compliments on his improvement using his senses from the mysterious woman.

Humming, Sayoko stepped out of the shower and reached for his towel. "Did you?"

An unamused expression crossed his face.

"Are you teasing me now, Sayoko? I thought you'd be happy."

"No way, Neji," she replied in feigned innocence, smirking as the man scoffed. "What else can you feel?"

It was a normal question from her by then; whenever they met, Sayoko would test his sensory abilities.

"They say that losing one sense enhances the rest," she had quoted. "Take this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to improve your other senses."

However, there was a teasing edge in her voice when she had asked the question this time.

"So?" she prodded.

Against his own judgement, Neji ignored her patronizing behaviour and focused on feeling his surroundings. Fingers of chakra reached around him, taking in the humid air and occasional droplets crashing on the marble floor. His skin reacted as he dug deeper and his senses were drawn to the woman standing before him without his consent.

And a blush crept up his neck as realization slapped him in the face; his impatience to find her had somehow pushed away his common sense, and Neji only just became aware of the warmth radiating from her naked body.

Clearing his throat in an attempt to avoid embarrassment from taking over, he ran a hand along his hot face and turned away, giving her the privacy she hadn't asked for.

"I didn't mean t-"

Her hand touched his shoulder, causing his whole body to stiffen. Was she doing it on purpose?

"Stop before you hurt yourself." Expecting no answer from the flustered man, Sayoko ran a hand through her wet locks and asked, "Why were you looking for me?"

Of course she heard me calling, Neji mentally groaned. He was burning inside, his hormones reacting and throwing a party in his mind and in his body. The mystery she was sprouted a strange sensation within him; a desire to figure her out that only added to the unspoken attraction he felt for her character. Standing so close to her at that exact moment, he felt sudden irritation at his blind eyes; but he stopped himself there and cleared his throat.

"I need a favour."

Clicking her tongue, the woman took a step back and bit back an amused chuckle as his shoulders noticeably relaxed. Drying off her body slowly and keeping an eye on him, noticing his annoyance at his own body for betraying him by perking at the sound of the towel rolling along her skin, Sayoko straightened.

"Does it require me to be naked or am I allowed to put some clothes on?" she commented, taking pride in being a total bitch.

"Just get dressed, damn it."

Humming softly, Sayoko stepped forward and whispered, "Your excitement is showing."

Neji didn't need his eyes to work to understand what she meant; retrieving the crumpled remains of his dignity, he muttered something under his breath and stalked out, making sure to close the door in her smirking face.